Destiny
by xXKiki-chan-2-13Xx
Summary: And here I thought that moving back to Konoha would be better. All this brought was more gang fights, more enemies, more drama, and a twisted plot made by three different gangs combined. This just got interesting...
1. Gang

**Destiny**

_**Summary:**__ And here I thought that moving back to Konoha would be better. All this brought was more gang fights, more enemies, more drama, and a twisted plot made by three different gangs combined. This suddenly just got interesting._

**Disclaimer:** _I own nothing and most likely never will… T.T _

**Chapter One**  
**Gang**

_All my ladies get it up!_  
_I see you I do the same_  
_Bring it to another level;_  
_No passengers on my plane! –Beyonce; Diva_

The silver doors of a 2007 Lexus slammed shut as a boy with eyes as onyx as the stone itself walked up a stone path to a dusty white door, his black hair spiked up and catching a ton of light from the sun while his bangs framed his face rather cutely, but also giving him an edgy look. His hard jaw was tensed a little as though he were trying to keep his mouth shut from letting information out. A goofy blond followed after him, blue eyes shimmering somewhat excitedly for whatever reason, the whisker marks on his cheeks spreading with his crazy big grin. The third bore a bored-looking expression on his face, eyes drooping lazily and hair tied into a pineapple-shaped ponytail as he followed the other two silently. The onyx-eyed boy knocked on the door three times. A deep and smooth velvety voice said a simple "Come in." and the boy opened the door.

"Anything new Sasuke?" said the boy with the velvet like voice. His piercing silver-lavender eyes shot up from his hands to the group of three boys in front of him. It was like being stared down by the moon. His long, brown hair was tied into a loose, low ponytail, strong jaw edging on a serious yet bored expression itself as he studied the faces of the boys in front of him. His long straight nose was perfect, not too big but not too small either. The boy with the black hair nodded slightly. "Apparently there's a new gang coming. Word is that it's the gang that left nearly four years ago."

"Kunai?" The boy with the silver eyes looked up at Sasuke. He nodded. "Yeah…them…" His voice was serious and deep, almost a complete monotone, although the others could hear the slightest bit of curiosity and intrigue. The other guy looked up. "Those guys are really strong. It would be best that, when they come, not to make enemies with them, but to try and form an alliance with them." Almost immediately, the blond replied. "But, Neji…what happens if they don't want to make that alliance with us?" He said. He had a look of deep thought on his face, his cerulean blue eyes shining in the dim light of the room.

"If that's the case then we just stay out of their way Naruto. We don't want to get on their bad side, remember?" The blond nodded. He grinned again, his white teeth sticking out above everything else in the room. Sasuke punched him on the head. "Dobe." He muttered something about special education kids and then walked out of the room to another right down the hall. "Hurry up Sasuke, school starts in another twenty minutes."

"Yeah!" Sasuke walked back in a minute later and turned to them all, pocketing a knife in his slate and blue uniform pants. "Let's go…"

They walked out of the small, old house one after the other, all looking either stoic or bored but certainly much too edgy to be the fourteen and fifteen year old boys that they were. The remaining two people in the car grinned as the others came up, one with a dog-like grin mouthing 'what in the hell took so damn long?' while the other just gave them his own goofy grin. Neji and Sasuke rolled their eyes before getting into the front seats of the car. The other two squeezed into the back seats of the Lexus, which drove off as soon as the last door slammed closed.

****

The guys all stepped out of the car and walked up the steps of the school, looking as stoic and bored as they'd been when they'd left the house. Most of the girls nearby blushed a light pink tint and yelled out a "Hey Naruto-kun, wanna go out" or "Neji-kun, you're so damn sexy" or "Sasuke-kun, I swear one day I will fucking rape you!" They all twitched at the phrases that the desperate fan-girls were throwing at them almost as much as themselves. Many were now attempting to keep pace with the guys, and one actually did up until she banged into a wall because of staring at them and not where she was walking. "Hey Sasu-!" BAM! She fell back and laughter erupted from anyone and everyone who'd seen it as the guys continued up the steps to the school's front doors.

Another one screamed out a "Shikamaru, can I have your kids!?" The guy with the pineapple-shaped ponytail muttered something along the lines of 'troublesome' under his breath and continued walking, ignoring the hopeless fan-girl that was trying to chase him up the steps (although with shoes like that, it was a miracle she could even stand up). These crazy desperate fan-girls were a part of their everyday lives, sadly enough. Without so much as a second glance at all the blushing girls behind them, they walked into the school.

They trailed down a long hallway slowly, giving any little nerdy girls who was in there time to gawk and blush before fixing their too-big glasses and giggling shyly and turning back to whatever was in their lockers. They hit the halfway mark of the hallway and Sasuke turned away from them a bit "Aight, guys, my locker's over there. See you later. Peace." He walked off to his locker. Naruto left a little later down the hall, calling a "Duces" over his shoulder as he made his way to his own locker. Neji and Shikamaru stopped at the end of the hallway, punched two lockers, and then waited for them to open. Once they did, they began to rummage through them. "Did you get any information on the gang like I told you to?"

Shikamaru nodded twice. "Yeah. Apparently the gang started up here and it's almost as well known as The Akatsuki and Orochimaru's gang. They're known to fight with unusual weapons; weapons that no one uses anymore but are still sold for no reason other than decoration and collection." Neji nodded. "What kinds of weapons would those be?" Shikamaru let out a lazy sigh. "I thought the name would be self explanatory. They like to use kunai, shuriken, katana, giant shuriken…all that type of bullshit." Neji nodded again. "Oh."

Pulling out some pens, a notebook, and two very different books, they slammed their lockers shut and walked away to their first class just as the late bell rang.

****

After school, the boys were all gathered at the back of the school. "Leave it to Kiba and Lee to be late." Naruto groaned to himself loudly, crossing his arms and brows furrowing into a frown in annoyance. Neji sighed soundlessly and Sasuke muttered a 'hn' in agreement as Shikamaru fought, as usual, to stay awake. The back doors of the school opened. The entire group looked up.

"About time Kiba!" Naruto shouted. The boy that had been sitting in the back of the car that morning grinned apologetically, scratching the back of his brown-haired head, dark eyes showing apology as well, his red triangle tattoos spreading on his cheeks as his grin turned sheepish. "Sorry guys. Kurenai-sensei kept me after class." His voice was raspy but not rough. It was that mixture of husky and boyish that added both charm and edge to him as well. "What for?" Kiba turned to Shikamaru, as a small white dog poked out of his gray jacket, tanned skin lit up by the way the sun hit it. "I have detention tomorrow for arguing with Zaku…I would've beaten the living shit out of him if it weren't for the fact that the teacher walked into the room when I was reaching for my knife."

The door opened again and out came a round-faced boy with a shining jet-black bowl cut, roundish eyes surveying the group, bushy eyebrows pushed upward into a sort of interested face. "What about you Lee? What's your excuse?" He was the other one that had been in the backseat grinning. He grinned again now. "Gai-sensei and I were running some extra laps." Sasuke was about to comment on that when a loud **BANG** erupted. The guys turned their heads in the general direction of the sound before they took off. Neji glanced behind him and grit his teeth, looking pissed at what he saw. "Damn it! It's Sai."

They got into their Lexus in a heartbeat. Sasuke was in the driver's seat since he wasn't afraid to drive more than a hundred miles over the speed limit without hesitation as Lee sometimes was. "Go! Sasuke take us to a secluded area, like an alley or something. We can't afford to have the police up our asses if someone gets injured." Sasuke nodded and made a sharp turn to the right, the street getting narrower before thinning into an alley in an abandoned cul-de-sac, the lights flickering on and off every so often.

He pushed down on the brakes and parked the car unevenly at the end of it. A few bullets just barely missed them as a Ford Explorer came up right behind them. A man that would've looked like Sasuke's twin except for the fact that his hair was straight down against his face, his bangs were a lot shorter, and he was smiling with no emotion whatsoever on his face exited the truck first, gun by his side as he stared at his opponents. .

Edging toward the group as they exited the Lexus, he brought up his gun slowly before he was just a few meters away from them, gun pointed directly at Neji. "Hyuga, did you honestly think you were going to be able to escape?" He pulled the trigger once and a loud **BANG **erupted from it as the bullet zoomed out with the force of the energy. Neji dodged it easily and quickly and the bullet lodged itself into the back of one of the crumbling, old, abandoned houses. Neji shot forward and punched Sai in the face. "Aye well you know I don't talk much. I get straight to the point." He jumped onto Sai – who had just sat up and wiped the blood from his lip – and began to constantly punch him, beating him up.

Sai's gang crept up on the guys. Well they tried to but ended up getting discovered and all hell broke loose as Neji's gang tangled into little side fights with the thugs.

Neji ducked as Sai aimed a punch toward his head. Sai was knocked off his feet when Neji kicked him in the legs. He landed on his back, hard enough to make him lose his breath for a second. Neji smirked as he threw himself on Sai again and punched him repeatedly.

Sasuke was smirking. He was punching these guys mercilessly. If there was one thing he was gifted at, it was getting rid of the enemy so incredibly quick it wasn't even funny. He ducked as one tried to kick him in the head and punched him dead on in the face. The guy fell back, clutching his nose which was now dripping blood. Another guy, who was much bigger, launched himself at Sasuke. "Dammit, this guy's gonna be tough." He attempted to knock the guy backward a few times, but failed in that so he faked it and got him before he jumped on him.

Naruto laughed psychotically as he beat up his bunch of guys. He sat on one's back and pushed his face into the dirty concrete of the old street, laughing even louder when another pair came to hit him. He back-flipped off of the guy and punched the two in the face when they got close enough. His grin spread wildly as the guy got up from the ground and attempted to elbow him in the face. He blocked it with his forearm and tripped the guy before getting on top and crazily punching him.

Kiba was smirking. "Akamaru!" The little white dog jumped out of his sweater before running forward at a fast pace and biting the guy Kiba was to fight. He pushed himself off of the guy and peed on his shoe mercilessly. The guy screamed out in frustration. "Damn dog." He kicked Akamaru, who yelped and was lifted off the ground, though no real damage was done. Kiba caught him in his arms and cradled him like a baby. "Fucking bastard!" He gently placed Akamaru down before he launched himself at the guy and kicked him all around, mostly in the place where it hurts the most. The guy fell onto the ground, crumpled up in pain. "Who else wants to fight?" Kiba was mad. No one touched his dog and got away with it.

Another man came hurtling toward him; a dagger gleamed when he ran under a flickering streetlight. Kiba pulled out his own gleaming knife and held it out in front of him in a protective sort of way. The guy simply smirked and ran at him faster. Kiba smirked and brought back the knife, ready to stab this guy in all his rage.

Lee was serious. He never took his opponents lightly. He advanced on the first guy and punched him into a street lamp nearby easily, putting a lot of force into the hit. Another one came up and aimed for his face. He caught the guy's punch with his hand and jumped into the air. "Leaf hurricane!" He spun around in the air, one leg going high, and the other going low. The first missed but the second one hit the guy dead on and sent him flying into a dumpster a few meters away.

The next guy that Lee had to fight was huge; at least six feet tall. He breathed and got into his stance. The guy ran forward and tried to punch him. Lee just pushed his hand down, grabbed the guy by the arm, and pulled him straight into his fist. The guy let out a grunt of pain. He freed himself from Lee's grasp and kicked him in the stomach, which caused him to fly backward until landing on his back, his breath leaving him as he did.

Everyone in the gang turned to look at him. "LEE!" Neji was knocked off his feet, caught off guard as he looked over at his gang member. He looked up and saw Sai smirking down at him. He looked around, the other guys were being knocked to the ground by their opponents, and all of them stared at Neji and Sai, not even caring. Neji ground his teeth together and looked up at Sai, who was now pointing a gun at him.

"Look where we are now Hyuga. You're on the brink of death." He laughed cruelly. Neji glared at him. "Come on, that won't do you any good. You're still going to die." He gripped the gun more tightly, suddenly serious.

"Now, let's end this." He pulled back about a centimeter when a silver, shiny blade was put to his neck. Under the darkness of the late fall night, all that could be seen was the silver of a blade. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Drop the gun." The voice was seductive but threatening all the while, like a vampire going in for the kill. It was husky and womanly, but slightly dizzying and even intoxicating. Neji found that the voice sounded kind of…attractive. Sai tried to turn his head to see the face but stopped abruptly when he felt the blade being pressed against his throat even harder. A little blood oozed out and slipped down the cold skin of his neck.

"Drop the gun Sai before I take it from you." A look of realization dawned on Sai's face. "You?" Neji could just make out a white smile in the darkness of the street. "That's right." The person let out a small laugh and tightened their grip on the blade. "I'd heard rumors that you would come back, but I never thought that you actually would…" He cursed under his breath, stopping his sentence short. "Yeah, that's right. We _did _come back. Now drop the damn gun." Sai smirked. "How about you try and wrestle me for it." There was a double meaning to those words, a double meaning that Neji easily caught. Neji couldn't believe that. Sai was flirting with someone. The person behind him smirked in amusement. "Ha, you wish that would happen, wouldn't you? Sorry to say I'm not interested in screwing you. Drop the gun." The cold metal dug a little deeper into Sai's throat. His breath was uneven now and more blood trailed down his skin.

"Fine." He tried to trick the person by turning around and pulling the trigger on them. The person back-bended and flipped over them-self. They ran straight at Sai, who was continuously shooting. The person dodged all of his attacks as if it were doing drills for football. Whoever this person was, they were good. The person punched Sai in the face, which sent him flying backward.

The figure back-flipped a few times and landed in front of a group of five. "Kick their fucking asses!" The entire group was off, taking on all of Sai's men. The first figure held two kunai, one in each hand, while the others all held one. _'That must be the leader.'_ Neji got up swiftly and looked around at his gang. They were all standing, staring at the other group.

The leader turned sideways and Neji noticed that the figure of the person looked kind of skinny. If the person was strong enough to have Sai in a headlock, they must've had some type of muscle, so why did the person look so…flabby? He noticed the petite waist and the curves and then it hit him. "A…girl?"

She punched Sai repeatedly then turned on another guy. She jumped onto her hands and kicked three men at once, rotating quickly on both hands. She flipped off of her hands and yelled out. "Sakura, take your turn on the bastard." Neji perked up. He turned his head and saw a flash of pink hair in one of the faulty street lamps. It was gone as the person jumped up and kicked Sai on the head. It then picked him up by the collar and punched him so hard that he flew into the wall of one of the old houses and made a huge crack.

Sai got up, very bloodied, and coughed into his hand. He groaned as more blood came out. He ran forward and the leader kicked him into the air easily and uncaringly. They then jumped up, and kicked him down to the ground. The leader reached into a small pouch on their right leg and whipped out a mass of weapons. She bit her finger and slid the bloody wound all over one of the many knives that were now set out in front of her. She threw them all with perfect accuracy at Sai. The knives scraped and embedded themselves into him and then five kunai landed on extra baggy points in his clothes, pinning him to the ground. Whoever this person was, they had good accuracy…wait…kunai?

The leader landed on her feet gracefully. She smiled as the others joined up with her and walked over to Lee. One of them picked him up onto their back. Neji watched carefully before walking out of the darkness of where they were currently standing and into the dim flickering light of a street-lamp. His gang followed suit, utterly shocked at the ass-whooping that they'd just witnessed.

The other gang was coming out. 'Who are you?" Neji asked the question emotionlessly. He heard a weird, rather girly group of laughs from the darkness. "I'm the leader of Kunai." His entire gang gasped when they saw a girl with twin buns and fringe bangs done as her hairstyle, great curves, and chocolate-brown eyes walk out of the darkness and under the light, smiling at them.

**  
Tenten**  
I smiled at them as they stared at me and couldn't help but let a small smirk escape at the obvious shock on their faces. "What? You've never seen a strong female gang leader before?" They shook their heads, eyes still planted on me as I retracted a kunai from my pouch and played around with it, twirling it in my hand. "Well, have you ever even seen a strong female gang member?" They shook their heads again and I smirked. "Well then you dumbasses are gonna be in for the shock of your life. Girls, come on out." They all giggled as they laid eyes on the group in front of us.

The guys gaped at us in disbelief. A blond stepped forward, pointing straight at us, mouth agape in surprise. "Who are they?" His electric blue eyes shined and glimmered in curiosity. I laughed. "The rest of my gang; duh!" He tripped over his own two feet walking backward toward his gang, mouth agape and finger still point at us, and landed on his bottom. "What…the hell? We were saved by _girls_? _Girls!? REALLY?!_" I glared at him as Sakura stalked over, her pink hair pushing behind her with the breeze. She kept him staring into her emerald orbs as they pierced through his blue ones, intensity on her face as she spat out at him. "Yeah, what about it?" He blubbered incoherently, like an idiot who had nothing to say. I smirked and Sakura let go of him, turning and walking back over to us, slightly satisfied at how she made the kid feel stupid, but stopping halfway. That new strawberry, cherry and cream shampoo that she used would get to anyone if they were dumb enough to go near her.

My smirk stayed in place as I let my hard gaze focus on him. "Yeah, so a group of girls saved your ass; what's so wrong with it?" He looked up at us, eyes going wide with disbelief again. "You're girls! That's not good! If girls saved us then that means that our gang is weak because girls aren't as strong as men are." I glared at him in slight anger. Was he really this stupid? "I don't know if you've noticed this but whether you're a guy or a girl means nothing on the battlefield as we so obviously proved when we, the girls, kicked Sai's gang's asses and saved your asses. Please note that we were the only girls out of the three gangs, dumbass!" I placed my hands on my hips. He gulped and looked away.

I smiled at them again. Sakura went back to her spot but not before shooting the boy a look. I had Temari pick up the weird kid with the bowl cut (who I couldn't help but see a bit of familiarity in), seeing as she's the tallest. I took him from her hands and set him to the ground on his knees. His gang must've freaked out when they saw me do what I did next.

I shook him back and forth, making his head roll back then forth. "Get it together Lee! Look at yourself! Geez, getting beat so easily. Get a hold of yourself!" They all seemed confused as to how I knew his name. I shrugged them off and continued to shake him. "Wake the hell up Lee! This is seriously sad! You should've went harder on your opponent! Remember what you told me; one hundred and ten percent every time!" When visible signs of consciousness appeared on his face, I let him go. In a few seconds, his eyes fluttered open, and he blinked a few times to bring them into full focus. As soon as he saw me, he sat up straight. "T-Tenten; is that you?" He rubbed his eyes and smiled at me sweetly. "Youthful flower, you have returned!" I smiled right back at him and leaned over and gave him a quick hug before helping him up.

Everyone, including my own gang members, stared at me strangely. "What?" They all pointed to me and then to Lee and back. I blinked and then let out a small laugh. "Oh! This is Lee…I met him some time ago…like in…elementary school…" I drifted off in the end as glares became evident on all the girls' faces. "And you come to tell us now?!" Ino was the loudest one out of all of the girls and I winced at the volume but didn't hesitate to yell right back. "Shut the fuck up! He never got to meet you guys because; he was always hanging out with his friends when I was with you guys, God!" I glared at them and they all fell blank. Ino's ice-blue eyes lost their spark for a second, pink lips pursed in blankness (hee hee!) as she twirled a lock of her incredibly long blond hair around her finger. "Oh…well…you could've just said that." I raised an eyebrow in slight shock of how she was saying it. "What the hell?!"

With a sigh, I turned back to look at Lee. I was expecting him to be looking at me in confusion and pointing to the girls behind me but I was surprised to see him making goo-goo eyes at Sakura. I sighed. I snapped my fingers in front of his face, frowning worriedly. He ignored my fingers and the noise and brought up a finger to point at Sakura. "Who is she?" He asked in a whisper. With another sigh, I responded, "That's Sakura Haruno. I know she's pretty but put your tongue back in your mouth and stop pointing. That's rude!" Ignoring me completely, he walked up to Sakura and took her hand in his. "Sakura, please be my girlfriend. I shall protect you until the day I die!" Sakura would've killed the guy if it weren't for the pleading and exasperated look in Hinata's eyes; she didn't really like seeing Sakura pound on innocent people.

She breathed in. Uh oh. That was the warning before the spazz. Usually, she did that to calm herself, although it never worked. The extra oxygen just helped her think of an even better quip. Here came the explosion. She closed her eyes for a minute, then opened them and screamed at the top of her lungs. "NO WAY IN THE SEVEN LEVELS OF HELL WOULD I EVER GO OUT WITH YOU! THAT HAIR, THOSE EYEBROWS! UGH!" She pulled her hand away from him and covered her mouth, eyes going wide. "Oh my God! Sorry." The blond kid burst out laughing.

Lee walked off to sulk on the porch of one of the old houses. I laughed. "Sakura, that was a bit bitchy." She blushed a bit and said, "Well…it's not my fault…that guy was creepy…" I shook my head, smiling. "Lee may look creepy but he's really nice." She chose to ignore me but not before letting a small roll of the eyes escape. Her expression turned serious and she turned her full attention to the gang before us. "So, if you don't mind me asking, who the hell are you guys?" She was staring straight at the onyx-eyed boy, eyes twinkling with a bit of interest. She didn't do that all that often. I glanced over at him myself and unsuccessfully fought down a grin because his hair was in the form of a chicken's ass. I couldn't help myself; I bust out laughing.

He turned to stare at me, as did everyone else. "Tenten…Tenten…Tenten…bitch what the fuck is up with you?" I gulped in some air into my system to calm myself for the time I had to say what I wanted to say. I pointed to him and unsuccessfully tried not to laugh. "D-Didn't you notice? His hair is in the form of a chicken's ass!" Sakura turned to look at him, as did the other girls, and they all laughed at him with me. He growled dangerously but I ignored him and continued laughing with Sakura while all the others stopped immediately. Tears began to fill in my eyes and I hastily wiped them away. Not even laughing was worth crying so slowly, I took a few breaths and I calmed myself down. Sakura was still laughing by my side, eyes closed and tearing at how long she'd been laughing. Her porcelain face turned a light shade of pink that seemed like a mere ghost of her hair-color. She gasped in air, her ruptured breathing turning her just a shade darker before she took in deep breaths and her laughter turned into small giggles before finally subsiding. Her eyes shot up to look at the weird chicken-butt haired guy and she met his glare with a wide grin.

The blond one let out a loud groan. "Damn, even when people joke around, it's all about Teme. What's so special about him anyway!? He's nothing but a bastard!" I raised an eyebrow before rolling my eyes and glancing over the girls. What surprised me was that Hinata was twiddling her fingers, blushing a light shade of pink. It brought a certain glow to her pale skin, but she still seemed a little too shy.

Sakura let out a small laugh while the kid went to go sulk next to Lee. I smiled before turning back to the group, repeating Sakura. "So…who are you guys?" A cinnamon-skinned brunette smirked at us as a boy with eyes that matched Hinata's silver-lavender ones stepped forward. He had a hard jaw and long, dark-brown hair that fell down his back before being tied into one of the loosest ponytails I'd ever seen. Even if his eyes were the same silver coloring as Hinata's, they were nowhere near as sweet or nice. His were cold and emotionless, and his brows were furrowed in a frown as he began to speak. "We are Akuri Kaze." I fought down the urge to ask what crawled up his ass and died and instead smiled and held out my hand for him to shake it. He looked down at it and looked back up at me, face impassive. He didn't reach out to shake it at all, or even twitch forward the slightest bit. I felt my eyebrow twitch in anger.

This guy wasn't going to screw with me and act like he could get away with it. Glaring him down, I forcefully took his hand and shook it roughly a few times before letting it drop and crossing my arms, smirking at him angrily. The other boys all stared at me like if I'd just committed murder right in front a police officer and then killed the officer in front of the FBI. "What?" I heard Hinata 'eep'. I turned to look at her. I'm pretty sure I looked more confused than I'd ever been in my life.

"What is it Hinata?" She pointed a finger at the guy with her same eyes. "Neji-nii-san…how has father been?" He turned his head up as if he'd smelled something repulsive; his velvety voice sounded cruel and heartless. "He's doing just fine. It would've been better if you'd have stayed away. He's doing so much better without you." I looked at Hinata. She looked like she could cry at any moment. That pissed me off twice as much and my glare on him intensified one-thousand-fold.

"Look, I'm not gonna sugar coat this and be all sweet; I'm gonna be honest. I don't give a fuck who the hell you are or what the hell your status is in this shithole of a city. If you talk to Hinata like that again I'll kick your ass inside out. Nobody talks to her like that because she doesn't deserve to be talked to like that. Do you understand dumbass? Comprende? Now do me a huge favor and apologize to her before I turn your long-haired ass into a pile of blood and bones." He was trying to hide his shock and bubbling anger but his eyes betrayed him completely. The remainder of his gang twitched in slight horror as if they'd just seen me do something incredibly disgusting. Somewhere from the side of the building I heard the blond kid laughing loudly. He closed his eyes, and then smirked at me cockily.

"Look, I don't give a fuck who you are either but there's no way in hell that I'll ever apologize to Hinata. She's the pampered offspring of the Hyuga family and me, I'm the part of the family that's only there to protect her. I'm what they consider, useless trash, and scum." I laughed at him, and I'll admit it sounded so damn cruel but he deserved it so damn much. He glared hard at me and I rolled my eyes at him. "Look _Hyuga_," I spat the word at him, "the only reason they consider you scum is because of your bad attitude. If you don't shut your fat ass mouth and stop acting so fucking cocky then you really are what they name you as! Honestly I don't know how the hell you got even half of those boys to be on your gang but with the way that you're going your dumbass won't be hanging around anyway except the desperate whore that's your number one fan-girl! Now I suggest you apologize to Hinata or you sign your death-wish."

He sent me another harsh glare and I simply smiled at him cockily. Two could play at his game. Hinata seemed alarmed so she quickly stepped in. "P-please forgive Tenten, nii-san…she doesn't m-mean it." I turned to her. "Don't apologize to him; he treats you like shit. Why the hell do you have to apologize to him? If anything, he should apologize to you for having so many sticks shoved up his ass!" His glare intensified. "For having what?!" I smirked. "Oops, did I let that slip?"

Hinata fiddled with her fingers a bit and turned her head to the side, blushing lightly and biting her light pink lips. "Old habits never change, do they Hinata?" My glare rivaled his own and I tightened my hand on my crossed arms. "Alright Mr. Hyuga…introduce the rest of your gang before I get really pissed and go on a rampage and kick your ass to mars." He glared at me for just a little longer before rolling his eyes and pointing to a pineapple-ponytailed boy. His dark eyes loomed on us lazily and I saw Temari give him a disapproving look from the corner of my eye before I eyed him a bit. He had a hard jaw himself and he was pretty tall. He stepped forward and rubbed his neck and let out a sigh, sounding a little irritated.

"Alright, he pointed at me which means that he's too lazy to do this himself. That guy that you just yelled at is Neji Hyuga and he's our gang leader and he's going to have a titty attack as soon as we get home because he has anger management issues like a bitch. Me, I'm Shikamaru Nara. I'm the intelligence collector and the strategist. The one you all laughed at is Sasuke Uchiha and our main fighter other than the leader and when Neji's not around, he's second in command. The kid with the blond hair who is the epitome of the stereotypical dumb blond and who appears to have hyperactive disorder is Naruto Uzumaki. He's basically our decoy, prankster, clown, and back-up fighter because when he's mad he'll go insane with rage and fuck up any person who pisses him off even more." I laughed a bit, not able to control myself. He smirked at me for just a second before continuing. "Alright, that freaky kid that you already seem to know is Rock Lee. He's usually the kid that drives us everywhere when we need him. He's got a mean fighting style and can kick ass like no one will believe although sometimes he gets carried away and a little too cocky and ends up in a bad situation. The guy with the dog is Kiba Inuzuka. He's the tracker of this team. In other words, his dog picks up the scent of any enemies so that we can easily beat them to a bloody pulp…and that's about it." He shrugged and yawned before looking over at us.

I nodded, arms still crossed, and raised an eyebrow as I studied them. Shikamaru cleared his throat and I looked up and saw him pointing to us. "And I'm quoting you when I say this; 'who the hell are you guys?'" I laughed. "Sorry! I forgot that we hadn't introduced ourselves! We're Kunai but I think you've heard of our gang…we started up here in Konoha but we've been in Sunagakure for the past four years. We just came back…I'm the _Weapon's Mistress _because according to the other girls I have a crazy obsession with kunai, shuriken, katana and shit like that but truthfully I just like pointy objects. Don't judge me and don't think wrong." They all stared at me with blank expressions, yet I'm pretty sure that a little amusement was clear in their eyes. I cleared my throat and continued. "Yeah…anyway! Anyway, the pink-haired girl with the bossy-ass attitude is the _Cherry Blossom_. The super-loud one is the _Mind Destruction Specialist_. The girl with those cold eyes that look like they want to kill you is our _Wind Princess_. The girl with Neji's eyes is our little baby but we call her the _Shy One_." I hugged Hinata tightly to me and laughed when she squeaked in surprise as my emphasis.

She blushed a light pink and the guys all stared at us. "That doesn't clarify who the hell you are…" I laughed. "Sorry, I just gave your our nicknames. My name is Tenten and I'm leader and the number one ass-kicker. Ms. Cherry Blossom is the head medic and our second in command, also second ass-kicker although I think she could tear down a building with her punches." Sakura blushed lightly at this, rolling her green eyes but not stopping the smile from crossing her face.

"Ino, better known as the _Mind Destruction Specialist_ is second head medic because she likes toying with people's heads like you will not believe. She has this weird technique where it's like she's inside your head and she can see your bad points in the past and tell you what you really don't want to hear, what you're dreading most and she'll make you go through hell and back and take you into spiraling depression if she wanted to and sometimes even extreme paranoia. She's a talented bitch and I swear she'll work for the US at Guantanamo Bay one day. She was trained by her family as an exorcist but she gave up that life long ago, kinda breaking their tradition after however many years.

"Anyway, Temari, the _Wind Princess_ is our driver and her second nickname is the _Speed Demon_. I can tell you this; she's the fastest bitch you'll ever meet." Temari laughed out loudly. I smirked at her and continued. "She goes over 300 in the sports car and on the motorcycle by herself, only God knows what time zones she passes in a second." I took in a breath and smiled at them.

"Hinata Hyuga is our little sister, caretaker and the master of the Gentle Fist technique. The little munchkin knows how to do some really permanent damage to your nervous system." I looked down at her, still smiling. She, in turn, blushed a deep red and twiddled her fingers and I let out a laugh. "Hinata you're so damn adorable!" Her blush intensified and I rolled my eyes, smile still on my face.

Akuri Kaze simply stared at us, signs of 'WTF' looks becoming more and more evident. I laughed again at their faces before shaking my head. These guys were so confused about everything; it was so damn hilarious! Neji walked back to the front of the group, eyeing me with an eyebrow raised in wonder. "Do you girls have any allies yet?" I sighed. We'd established something like that in Sunagakure but it wasn't exactly an alliance yet. "No but we came close to making one with three gangs that we know really well. They're run by Temari's brothers, who each have their own gang, and then the last one belongs to her brother's girlfriend." They looked at each other, and then sighed. Temari glared at me before she spoke. "She is not his girlfriend!" I smirked over at her. "They talk, flirt, and steal kisses and hugs and you're telling me that they're not together? Really, even I'm not that oblivious and when all this relationship shit comes up you know I really don't know shit!"

Her glare intensified. "Well…they could be friends with benefits!" I smirked. "Or sex fiends…" She reached out and tried to punch me but I ducked and laughed at her. "Calm down bitch! All I'm suggesting is that your brother might be screwing her or something! It's better than him running one night stands!" She laughed at the idea. "Gaara wouldn't be the type to run a one night stand! He's too serious! It's a miracle he even got with Matsuri!" I grinned. "AHA! So you _admit_ that he and Matsuri are dating!"

She gritted her teeth at the quip and rolled her eyes. "I'm admitting that they're friends with benefits but nothing more! They're not sex buddies, because I know for a fact that Gaara's a virgin and Matsuri herself wears a purity ring, and they don't go out because if they did Matsuri would hold his hand and kiss him in public even if he doesn't want her to!" She smirked but it fell almost immediately when she saw me smirking. "Gaara doesn't screw Matsuri when you're around but how do we know that that purity ring is still on Matsuri's finger right now? We left which means that purity ring could've gone bye-bye!"

Temari glared at me now and swung at me a couple more times. I blocked one and then ducked the other and laughed as I swung back at her. "Chill! I'm just saying the truth!" She grabbed at the giant fan that was being held in place by her holster. "Tenten, don't make me use it!" I grinned. "Do it! I dare you!" Her eyes narrowed. "You're tempting me to the extreme Tenten! Don't go that far!" I laughed. "I dare you Temari! If the temptation's really that bad then do it!" She glared at me and tightened her grip on the fan. Sakura, sensing a fight, walked over to us and sighed. "How about you both do us all a favor and shut the fuck up! And stop playing around! I mean really, does the matter of whether or not Gaara and Matsuri are virgins really matter?" I glared at her playfully before doing a shocked gasp. "Oh yes! It is most important because they are so young, only fourteen, and we don't want them getting pregnant or- HOLY SHIT!" I ducked as Sakura's fist came flying at me and back-flipped away from her. "God woman, don't do that!"

She crossed her arms and glared at me. "Didn't I say shut the fuck up! God. The guys look like they want to tell us something!" I turned around, realizing just how far I had back-flipped, because I was standing just about a foot away from Neji and his gang, and I noticed for the first time that Lee and Naruto had come back from their sulking. And they indeed did look like they wanted to say something. Frowning, I turned around and crossed my arms, sticking out my hip. "Okay…what is it?" Neji's eyebrow was raised in question but he spoke anyway. "We actually want to form an alliance." I blinked and then sighed. "God, how did I know that was coming?"

He stared at me and then sighed. "I'll just take that as a 'we do not want to make an alliance' or whatever." I gave him what must've been the biggest WTF look in the world. "What the hell are you talking about? Let's get our asses moving, the sun's about to set." The second part wasn't a lie either. Behind them, I could see the orange of the sky and the sun slowly going down. The boys all just stared at me in confusion and I smirked at their cluelessness. "You do know how to form an alliance, right?" Their eyes widened and for Naruto, Kiba, and Lee, their jaws dropped in surprise.

Obviously, they did.

* * *

_Okay, re-editted lolx ; I caught some mistakes and fixed them xp lolx so um...there you go lolx_

_Thanks to all who read and review please ! =]_


	2. Alliance

**Chapter Two  
****Alliance **

_Hello, hello baby you called?  
__I can't hear a thing!  
I have got no service in the club  
__You see (you see!)_

_What, what, what did you say?  
__Oh you're breaking up on me!  
__So I cannot hear you  
__I'm kinda busy!_

**Tenten  
**I nodded my head toward the girls, not taking my eyes off of Akuri Kaze, and they ran off. The boys just stared back at me, confused. I smiled at them, explaining it to them. "They're going to a bigger area. Follow me." They blinked at me and then raised an eyebrow. "And how the hell do they know where to go?" Still smiling, I said, "Remember, at one point, four years ago, we used to run these streets. We know a lot more about Konoha than you guys do." With that, I turned and then ran at half-speed through the abandoned streets to where I was to meet the girls with the gang. Not long after I heard the others following me, and they were running pretty quickly.

I looked over my shoulder at them and laughed at how fast they were catching up to me. They weren't having any trouble keeping up so I sped up just a little bit. The girls had probably just got there. The spot that we were planning on going to was just a few blocks away, maybe a mile or so, so they'd probably be waiting for a while. They'd run off at full speed, which probably did some horrible things to their lungs and stamina, but it didn't really matter because they had such great stamina and always recovered quickly. I couldn't help but to smirk slightly to myself. Ino was probably getting impatient now because if it took you more than five minutes to meet up with her she would get pissed and spazz out. I knew she would blow her top as soon as we got there.

A few minutes later we arrived at the spot and I ran over to my gang. As expected, Ino was mad as hell and exploded once I reached them. "What took you so long Tenten? I was waiting for hours!" I crossed my arms, raising an eyebrow in a smirk. "Really Ino? Hours? Then that girl that I saw about ten minutes ago must have been an evil twin or a doppelganger or something because I'm pretty sure it hasn't been that long since I've seen you." She rolled her eyes. "Look whatever! All I'm saying is I've been waiting for a damn long time." I laughed at her softly. "Sure…" I rolled my eyes, still smiling.

I took a minute to take in my surroundings. Konoha was as green as ever. The trees were still tall and mighty and gave the scent of the forest after a rainy day while the tall grass gave off a sweet scent that whirled in the wind around me. The unmistakable smell of fresh apples drifted through the breeze as well and I couldn't help but smile just a bit to myself. The place hadn't changed one bit from the last time I'd been here.

Turning back around to face Akuri Kaze, I let one of my arms drop to my side before placing the other hand on my hip. "You guys do know how an alliance is formed right?" They all nodded knowingly and I grinned. "Okay then. Are you ready; because if you're not I'm gonna whoop ass without you seeing me coming!" They all nodded and rolled their eyes and I smirked over at them. "Alrighty then; GO!" In less than a second, they were all out of my sight because by the time I finished saying 'go' I was up in the trees, jumping and flipping through them. Everyone in Kunai had a black-belt in Go Ju Ryu and had their own type of technique or special ability, which gave this gang its unique power.

I smirked to myself because I knew that this was already a won battle. Unless they had super strength, they wouldn't be able to take on all of us or beat us. I heard Akuri Kaze enter the forest about eight or nine meters away. I chuckled a bit and ran off faster, jumping and flipping off tree branch after tree branch.

My team was highly skilled. Even if they did get into a fight, the girls would be victorious. I just felt bad for Akuri Kaze because the way to form an alliance was brutal. The two teams that wanted to form the alliance had to duke it out and then whichever team that won led the alliance and decided what to do in the event that the two gangs needed to pair up. That gang would be mine.

I smirked a bit to myself as I heard one of them come after me. They were damn foolish if they thought that coming to take out the leader was the best idea to beating them. The leader was the leader for a reason; because they had the strength to lead the gang and their strength ranked above all others. I reached into a little holster that I had tied to my leg and gripped a kunai tightly. This guy was about to get some cuts and bruises, that was for sure.

I immediately felt guilty when I saw a flash of green and realized with a start that it was Lee. I bit my lip, and then turned and chucked the kunai at him. As expected, what with my absurdly perfect aim, it sliced through the skin of his arm. I pulled out a few senbon, and, with a jump that pushed me high into the air, I released them and watched them fly to Lee. I back-flipped onto my feet on a rather thick branch behind me and watched the affect of throwing those senbon. A few of them embedded themselves into Lee as the others just cut him up a bit.

Smiling apologetically at him, I scratched the back of my neck and let out a nervous laugh. He simply smiled warmly back before he sat down on a branch, leaning against the tree trunk and tended to his wounds using the tree that he was on.

I called out a "Sorry Lee!" before going on.

**  
Sakura  
**I was flipping through the trees, somewhat excited. I had the funniest feeling that this was going to be fun. My waist-length pink hair flew behind me in the wind and I couldn't help but smile a bit. That smile turned into a smirk as I thought about the poor darn sucker that I would have to fight. They'd be hurting just as much as hell was burning in flames.

The sound of someone stepping on a branch and then pushing off to the left made me stop. I narrowed my eyes and scanned the area around me, looking through every crack in between the branches and leaves. A flash of black hair had me smirking even wider. "Chicken ass haired idiot." I muttered. Turning on my heel quickly, I chased after him as swiftly, quietly, and agilely as possible. He didn't hear me coming, and I fought down a relieved sigh at the thought. _'Good'_ I thought. He made a sharp turn to the left and I followed him, turning his way almost as soon as he turned.

He began going faster and I too jumped through the trees faster. I pulled a few senbon out of the pouch strapped to my leg and held them between my fingers. I bit my lip, a little blood seeping out. "Sorry Sasuke," I muttered to myself quietly right before I threw the senbon at him. A few stuck themselves into his back, although not too deeply. The others just landed a few feet behind him as he kept going. He sure as hell probably knew that I was tailing him now. If only I had aim like Tenten's.

Trying to trick me, he swung branch through branch, descending with each one until he was running along the forest floor. A few of the branches blocked my view but I didn't want to reveal my position. I'd just have to deal with it. I bit my lip and chased after him faster, although pretty soon the branches were so thick that I barely saw him at all. I continued until I heard his footsteps behind me. I gasped and quickly dodged a punch that was aimed for the back of my head.

The smirk that was on his face added to his handsome features, although it was gone the minute I put both of my hands on his arm and swung him around like a lasso, going quicker each time I did a full rotation. I let him go and he flew off toward a thick trunk but he caught himself before he crashed into the nearby tree. "Dammit."

He ran toward me at full speed and I have to admit, the guy was fast; like lightening. He was in my face in an instant. Pain shot up in my jaw and the next thing I could fully comprehend was that I was in the air with Sasuke behind me. "Dancing Leaf Shadow…" Biting my lip, I turned my head a bit to try and take a look at him. He'd taken a martial art form, and he knew one of my moves somehow. Maybe he'd taken a bit of Go Ju Ryu himself.

Once that thought came across my mind, I knew that all of them probably had taken it just the littlest bit too, because the _Dancing Leaf Shadow_ move was one of the first ones that was taught. He nodded at me, confirming my thoughts.

I tried to trick him, and turned quickly, attempting to kick him where it most hurt, be he sensed this and blocked my kick easily, pushing my foot back down. In a movement so quick I barely knew what was happening, he pushed me back around and kicked me in my sides. He then pushed me under him and punched me in the stomach. My abs were gonna be sore as hell tomorrow. Continuing his attack, he turned sideways just the slightest, bringing his leg up, and I knew exactly what he was doing. I'd heard of the move but had never actually experienced going through it. This move was one that required both speed and strength, and judging from what I'd seen him do so far, he had mastered the move. I didn't know what to expect, except the for the inevitable pain to begin, and I guess that those expectations were easily met.

His foot came down, kicking me in the stomach with the heel, as he yelled out, "Lion's Barrage!" He knocked the wind out of me with that kick, and I was positive that I had a little blood coming out from the side of my mouth. I fell to the forest floor and heard him 'hn' with satisfaction when my eyes closed on impact. There was the sound of him turning around and walking away, and I ground my teeth together. I couldn't let him get away. In less than a second I was on my feet again, fighting a smirk when the grass didn't crunch under me. He hadn't heard me, which was a good thing. _'Time to go hardcore'_ was the only thought that ran through my mind as I quietly chased after him at full speed. He turned around to face me, looking somewhat surprised. I ran left to right, to cast the illusion that there were more of me. He fell for it and seemed confused up until I let my fist connect with his jaw and sent him flying backward.

Smirk finally breaking free, I said, "Did you really think that that little trick was going to work on me? I'm not some helpless little girl anymore Uchiha. Fight me like you would fight a guy who was holding you a gunpoint." His face dawned a smirk as he got up. "Alright then." His deep voice made me want to melt but I stood my ground, with legs like jell-o. He ran toward me fist at ready and I blocked it just as it came at me and punched him in the stomach. He doubled over and wrapped his arms around himself in pain and I couldn't help but smirk at him.

But he recovered quickly, smirking at me, before kicking me in the stomach again. Glaring at him, I took a few steps back and regained my balance before I could fall. "Damn Uchiha." I ran toward him, a kunai in my hand now, and when I figured I was close enough, I threw it at him and it grazed his stomach, giving him a semi-deep wound. He fell to his knees, a hand over his mouth as he coughed up some blood. I immediately regretted throwing the knife at him, but walked over to him quickly and knelt down behind him. I whispered in his ear hastily, blushing lightly.

"Sorry Sasuke!" And with that, I hit his pressure point…hard…and knocked him out. I scanned the area around us, biting my lip as the urge overcame me. It was too hard to ignore. Noting that the area was clear, I leaned down and pecked his cheek lightly before retracting back and taking in his features; perfect face, those onyx eyes closed and dark raven hair adorably ruffled just the slightest from the short fight. Smiling the smallest bit, I back-flipped onto a branch before flipping through the trees and a few minutes later, I came across a clearing. It was nothing but a huge circle of green, sweet grass, no trees, and at least ten meters in radius. Jumping down from the trees, I made my way to the middle and stood there, waiting for the rest of the girls.

**  
Hinata  
**I looked right then left every so often, making sure that no one was tracking me. I had already admitted to myself that this was pretty scary. I'd never used the gentle fist technique on someone other than an enemy, so using it on someone who we were going to form an alliance with was somewhat scary. I stopped for a minute, closing my eyes, and taking in a large gulp of air before exhaling slowly and turning and blocking the punch that someone had thrown at me. When my eyes snapped open, the focus was greater at least by two or three times more than it had been before. This was a technique known only to the Hyuga family.

With the new concentration of focus in my eyes, I turned around and saw Naruto standing there, face looking serious and determined. My short indigo hair kept out of my way, although I admitted to myself that it would've been nice to let it grow out. However, for now, I would have to thank the Heavens.

Using the newly sharpened focus in my eyes, I tracked down his weakest pressure points. Easily detecting them now, I got him in the stomach, wrist, shoulder and his neck, making his knees buckle beneath him before he fell to the floor. I smiled apologetically at him. "Sorry Naruto!" He nodded at me and got back up easily. "That's alright Hinata! Now it's time for me to go Naruto Uzumaki style!" He gave that breath-taking grin at me and I fought down a blush and smiled at him before getting back into my stance.

He launched himself at me, throwing punches this way and that, but hardly landing a blow seeing as I dodged most of his punches. He did succeed in hitting me in the jaw with one of his hits and I 'eep'ed loudly and fell backward onto my butt. I glanced up at him and wiped the blood from my now broken lip. As soon as I was up, I breathed deeply. My silver eyes were set on him, taking in the pressure points.

I darted forward and aimed at the weakest pressure point in the entire body, hand ready and waiting. This was going to hurt him a lot and I knew that, but I had to win this. Biting my lip as I neared him, I jabbed him in the pressure point right above the heart and heard him gasp out in pain. His face contorted into one that matched exactly what he was feeling and I felt tears coming to my eyes as I took it in. "Naruto…I-I'm sorry." He smiled down at me and I noticed that he had blood streaming down from both sides of his mouth now. I bit my lip so hard that more blood spilled out and for a second, the thought that we matched came across my mind, but it dissolved quickly.

He laughed. "That's okay Hinata. You did what you had to do." I blushed the slightest bit and looked him straight in those cerulean blue eyes. "I'm sorry N-Naruto…f-forgive me." And with that, I hit his neck pressure point one more time, making sure to have a lot of force in my two fingertips so that the impact would be stronger. Just like that, he was out cold and the sight of it made me shudder.

Biting my lip, I took in his relaxed face. Other than the blood coming from his mouth, he looked absolutely normal; as if he was sleeping. Those adorable cerulean blue eyes were closed in unconsciousness and his golden hair ruffled and messy, but it had been like that even before the fight. I couldn't stop myself. Before I knew it, tears were rolling down my cheeks and when a few landed on his orange shirt, I cried harder. Falling by his side, I threw my arms around him and bit back a few sobs. "I-I'm sorry Naruto." I felt incredibly guilty for having to use the Gentle Fist art on him.

Glancing at his face, I took notice on how evenly he was breathing, and there was a small smile gracing his lips. That itself was enough to make me gasp and stop crying, although my breathing was uneven. I was one of the lucky girls, though, because my eyes never got red or puffy when I cried. I hastily wiped away my tears and jumped through the branches again, trying to catch sight of where I could meet the girls, although I was mentally arguing with myself; questioning myself.

Why did I cry over him like that; I barely knew him! Well to me, the answer lied within myself. As Neji had said, I was weak, another nuisance, and I knew that the one time that I did beat someone, they were more than likely going easy on me. A sigh escaped me as I twisted and turned and flipped through the trees.

My eyes caught sight of a large clearing in the forest, nothing but grass and even a girl with bubble-gum pink hair. That was my cue to flip down from the trees and stand right next to Sakura and give her a small smile of confirmation.

**  
Ino  
**I blinked and brushed the long bangs out of my eyes. They didn't cover my eye completely, it was more like a strip of my bangs pulled out to the front to add style as well as remind me that I was not going to focus on my hair right now and that if there was a piece left out, then I should let it be out.

Huffing lightly to myself, I couldn't help but think of how boring this alliance formation was becoming. Although that thought was pushed out my mind as soon as the sound of shoes meeting a branch was heard behind me. Well it was about damn time! When I looked behind me, I saw a mess of spiky brunette hair and a gray hoodie pulled over a school uniform.

A smirk found its way to my face as I turned and followed him, but he saw me before I turned around fully and darted off to the side, maneuvering his way through the trees. Rolling my eyes, I fought down a small behind my smirk. It was obviously Kiba trying to get to me without me noticing. I dashed after him, avoiding the trees and random branches that stuck out here and there, being sure to protect myself from any unneeded injuries.

Tenten had told us all to wear skinny jeans and boots and now I understood exactly why; she was planning this from the start. Not the specific gang, but she was checking to see which gangs we could become alliances with.

We were all wearing basically the same thing all except for the color that we wore for tank tops. I had on black skinny jeans, a black long-sleeved shirt with a purple tank top over that, black converse boots with the front part white and the flap of the shoe purple. I had fishnet arm-warmers on although I preferred to have then covering half of my ceps and half of my forearms, which meant it was covering my elbow as well. Sakura had a red tank top over her shirt while Hinata had on a dark blue tank top over her long-sleeved shirt. Temari had slipped on a green one and Tenten had pulled on a hot-pink one, safe to say just about the only shade of pink she liked decently enough other than bubble-gum pink.

We'd all added our own style to our outfits though. For instance; I had my arm warmers while Sakura had her headband. Hinata had her choker, while Temari had her black waist holster for her giant fan. Tenten had shoved her hands into a pair of black cut-off gloves (from her many selections) and we were all accustomed to wearing our weapons pouches strapped to our legs and we had to be absolutely sure that they were full and organized so that we knew where to reach for what. Tenten always snuck in about three times as many to be sure to have enough for her Dance of the Dragon and Rising Twin Dragons techniques, though. It was the sole reason we called her the _Weapons Mistress_.

Blinking back from my thoughts, I scanned my area to find myself lost in the forest, completely alone, the hooded Kiba gone from in front of me. I couldn't believe it. He'd lost me while I was entranced in my thoughts. That was foolish and stupid of me.

"Dammit!" I hadn't realized that I'd screamed it and that Kiba was right behind me, hiding from me and getting ready for attack. I heard his deep, slightly gruff yet boyish voice behind me. "Heh, sorry Princess, but you're going down." There was a sharp pain going through my arm and looked down to see that his dog had bitten me. Carefully, I pulled him off and placed him onto the thick tree branch that I was currently on. Kiba's smirk was forever evident as he went straight at me and attempted to punch me in the face. I ducked quickly and smirked at his surprised face as I grabbed his arm and held him to look into my eyes. "What? Were you expecting a ditz?" He blinked and stared down at me, seeing as I was still crouched under his arm. "To be honest, yes." Growling lowly, I shot my hands out and pointed them up at him. "Okay dog-boy; then you'd better be ready to pay for saying that. Exorcist Art; Mind Transfer Jutsu!" He continued to stare down at me, confusion etched on his face.

He'd obviously never heard of my family's secret form of jutsu and that was good, at least for me. That meant that he didn't know that I was surfing his memories, looking for the bad and good, the ones he cherished and the ones he regretted, the ones he kept out in the open and the ones he suppressed in the most far and dark corners of his mind. I could easily use these memories against him, and to think that just to surf his memories, all I had to do was look deeply into his eyes. "Watcha tryna do, princess; stare me down until I wither away with the flowers in your garden?" I glared at him before reaching up for his arm and twisting him around, arm behind his back, restraining his other one by the wrist with my free hand. "Yeah, you wish. And it wasn't a garden, it was a flower shop!" He let out a small grunt in pain, although I remained unaffected, until his dog whimpered for him.

Ignoring his dog as best as I could, I put my originally free arm under his free armpit and smirked to myself. I stood on my toes and tried to make my voice sound all seductive and dangerous, as Tenten had done earlier; seeing as it was a signature move that we shared. "So, Kiba…" I let out a small little laugh, low and husky. "I see you've had a lot of…good times…" He tried to look at me, but I tightened my grip on him and he stopped immediately. "What do you mean by good times?" I licked the lobe of his ear, and even though it was something I never did, I felt the need to do it to him. My tongue tingled with the taste as his body went rigid. "Like the time you went on that picnic with your mom and sister. And like the day you first got Akamaru. And remember that time that you beat up those three guys you hated so much; how satisfied you'd felt with yourself after that?" I stopped short, considering whether or not I should say the next part, seeing as it would have an affect on both of us. Deciding it was something important, I said it before I could stop myself. "And how about the time you first laid eyes on me; hmm?" I bit my lip for the shortest second before kissing his jaw. The muscles in his arms tightened immensely. "Yeah, so you got a cute face? What you being so conceited for?"

His comment slid right off my back, and I continued on, ignoring him. "How about the not-so-great times? Like the time you got jumped by those guys in Sai's gang and your dog got hurt. What about the time you shot an innocent man because they used him as a human shield." I could practically feel him wince at the memory. Again, I froze, leaving a few seconds of silence between us, mental conflict going on in my mind. I wondered to myself whether I really should keep pressing on and decided that I'd do it for the sake of the gang. "And how about now?" I said, breaking the short silence. "You're fighting the one girl that gave you a sense of peace and at the same time an unrecognizable feeling in the pit of your stomach since the moment you laid eyes on her. You're thinking that you never thought you'd be in a situation like this. You thought I was a ditz, that I would be easy to beat, which is precisely the reason you came after me. But what you failed to realize is that judging a person on their looks and how they act for the first five minutes could lead to a terrible situation, like the one that you're in now. Add that to the fact that you didn't think that me looking into your eyes could do anything and you've got yourself in a sticky situation now, haven't you? You fail to realize that thinking so little of me, _underestimating me_, is exactly where you made your mistake.

I smirked, but it was all an act to hide the pain that I was feeling right now. I had felt something when I'd looked into his eyes, something that had made me feel weird myself in the pit of my stomach; something unrecognizable. I remember when I first laid eyes on Kiba. He was good looking and jubilant. He made me feel happy almost immediately, and when I looked into those dark eyes of his just a few moments ago, I'd felt even happier, if possible.

Taking my silence as a time to attack, he shouted an "Akamaru!" and his dog came hurtling towards me, latching itself onto my arm and tearing into the skin. I immediately let go of Kiba and let out a small gasp of pain. I winced and grabbed at my arm before scooping Akamaru into my hand and setting him down. Once he was off, I took in the damage. There on my arm, where there should've been a long black sleeve, was a bloody wound, the fishnet arm-warmers I'd been wearing under the shirt torn just like the shirt.

Wincing at the pain, I looked up and glared at him; he simply smirked at me. "Who said I was happy to see you? Like I said, you're cute; so what? What's that gonna do for ya? Get ready to lose, Princess!." I gritted my teeth, then closed my eyes and smirked to myself.

My eyes opened slowly, glowing blue in the light, and my smirk only widened as I took in Kiba's confused face. "There's always the second part to my jutsu. Mind Transfer Jutsu!" I shifted my mind into a deep state of thought, blocking out Kiba's groans about my useless jutsu and how 'trash talking about his memories wasn't going to have much of an affect on anything but his mood'. I was deep into a subconscious state of mind, using telepathic energy now. My smirk never left my face, but could only widen as I searched his subconscious.

I pushed my arms forward and put my fingers into the form of a circle, screaming out the words that would seal Kiba's fate in this battle. "Get ready for this! Secret Exorcist Technique: Mind Transfer Jutsu!" I heard Kiba gasp. Now came time for the real jutsu. I felt myself drift from my body and ease into his own, smirking when I felt his eyes droop just the slightest. He was in a daze, most likely trying to keep me out of his mind although, he didn't realize that I had already trespassed his mental barrier.

A laugh escaped me and he froze. _'Who…who's there?'_ I smiled and I bet it was showing on his features. '_Relax Kiba! It's just me and I'm gonna tear you apart from the inside out.'_ His thoughts drifted around me, trying to deny it subconsciously, but consciously, he asked, '_What? What are you talking about?'_

Huffing, I crossed my arms and began to explain. '_Ugh! The Mind Transfer Jutsu is a secret technique that's been passed down through my family and the entire Yamanaka Clan for generations. It's a jutsu that allows you to posses your opponents. Of course, the only people that are able to do this are the descendants of the Yamanaka Clan from the Feudal Era in Japan._

His body went rigid and I smirked as the words floated around his mind. '_So…so that means?'_ He knew what it meant; he just didn't want to finish the sentence. '_That's right, Kiba. GAME OVER!'_

Trailing deeper into his subconscious, deeper into his spirit, I finally took full control. He was hurting on the inside, in an emotional sort of way, not a physical way. I felt sorry for a minute a random thought floated through both of our minds.

'_I'm so sorry Kiba!'_

I let myself look around in his spirit. They were different than what everyone thought.

Most people thought that spirits were just little streams of white, spiritual energy. How wrong they were. Spirits were like a person with different twists and turns and can be maneuvered through. Only the Yamanaka Clan knew this and we knew _where_ to take every turn, _which_ turn, invert, sharp _left_ or sharp _right_ to take, and which parts of the mind were only to be used in life-threatening situations.

I wrapped my spirit around his and constricted all spiritual energy flowing through it, like a Boa Constrictor. It gave out soon after. Once the spiritual energy was cut off, the body flew into unconsciousness. I quickly released my spiritual energy and let it flow back into my own body.

When the jutsu's in process, the entire spirit goes into the body of your opponent, leaving your body unconscious and susceptible to attack. This was the reason why I never did this if I were by myself in a room full of enemies because while the spiritual energy transferred into the body of my opponent; the others could take a toll on me; and I'd just die altogether once I transferred the spiritual energy. And whatever happened to the body I was in while I was doing the jutsu happened to my actual body because I felt the pain of the physical being as a spiritual being, and that pain became transparent to my body. Even if the spirit is gone, it still belonged to the body, so therefore they were forever connected…well at least until death…and hypothetically of course.

I sighed, relieved when I saw Kiba lying on the branch, bringing Akamaru to him. He was slowly fading into unconsciousness and I knew that he wouldn't remember what I did next. Looking around me, I came down onto my knees next to him and kissed him lightly on the lips. His were soft and warm, and so _nice _against my own. Well it's not like I could help it! He was cute! And my mind had been screaming at me to do it! So I did. I pulled back, patted Akamaru on the head, and turned around again, hopping through the trees aimlessly.

My eyes saw where I was going, but they weren't exactly focusing. My mind was on Kiba and if he was alright, wondering if something bad had happened, like the branch of the tree that he was on suddenly broke or collapsed or something or…bad Ino bad! Don't think like that!

A blur of pink and indigo drew my attention to a clearing somewhere in the forest and I jumped down from the trees to join Sakura and Hinata.

**Temari  
**Boredom seemed to flow through me freely as I flipped and jumped through the thick branches. No one had come after me yet and I knew this, although my hand had been twitching toward my fan at the sound of every breeze that rolled by. I was keen on fighting someone and I was excited on doing so. I sighed loudly, thinking that no one would hear me seeing as no one had come after me. Or so I thought.

The giveaway was the quick sound of a foot pushing off a branch and the leaves rattling because of that. I quickly turned and dodged a punch from the lazy one, Shikamaru. With a small smirk to myself, I grabbed his hand and turned, pulling him behind and over me, before throwing him into a nearby tree. He flew straight into it, too lazy to try and stop himself from getting hit. His back slammed against it and he fell into a sitting position, one eye closed in pain and a hand on his side as he gasped in shock. Slowly, he stood up, still clutching his side, took a heavy breath, and receded into the shadows. I raised an eyebrow before frowning and placing a hand on my fan. "I guess it's about time I took this thing out." And with that, I slipped it from the holster and pulled it out, leaving it closed, but slamming it onto the branch beside me and leaning on it.

He ignored all of this. His eyes were closed and he was in a crouching position, hands positioned into a sort of sign, the upside-down version of Ino's hand sign, his brows furrowed in concentration and face contorted into one of deep thought. He was probably planning out a battle strategy, planning his next move. I smirked the slightest bit. "You're a pretty smart kid. I'll bet that all your little buddies went straight for the kill." He stood up, shrugged, and rubbed the back of his neck before letting out a loud sigh. "Troublesome." My smirk turned to a glare. "What was that?" I gritted my teeth at the look of boredom on his face. He was bold; that's for sure. "Troublesome." My glare intensified. "What's with the face? You mocking me?" He shrugged again and it pissed me off even more.

My patience wore too thin for my blood and in a quick movement; I jumped forward and swung my fan over my head. He dodged it easily, moving to the side. He was pretty quick for a lazy ass. I blinked and landed on my feet subtly under a tree and noted the smirk that adorned his face as soon as I did. "Gotcha." I blinked in confusion and the next thing I knew, I was paralyzed, stuck in place. He smirked while I struggled to move. "You got caught in my Shadow Possession jutsu." I could only frown in confusion as his smirk widened cockily. "Go ahead, look down. I'll let you." I gave him a small look before looking down toward my feet. I'm pretty sure my eyes looked like dinner plates when I saw a long shadow stretching from his feet to mine. My gaze traveled upward and I felt my lip quiver in slight confusion and horror. "H-how the hell did you do that?" He let out a lazy sigh.

"Explaining this is going to be a drag. You see the Yamanaka Clan and the Nara Clan, my clan,

have been huge alliances for many generations. We paralyze the enemy and the Yamanaka posses them. You did know that their opponent has to be standing still or else it would be hard to transfer the spiritual energy. If by any chance, they miss; their bodies are left unconscious and their spirits floating around invisibly for minutes, and this in a battle that's usually measured in seconds." I frowned and looked him straight on. He actually had some knowledge in that thick skull of his. And he knew about Ino's technique. I guess it was a good thing that he'd decided to come after me instead of her.

He continued his lecture, rant, whatever. "Anyway, we channel our spiritual energy in a different way. We don't shoot it out directly; we trail it through the shadows. It depends on how long that shadow is that measures the distance and length of our technique. That's exactly what happened to you. You can't move unless I move or unless I let you. It's as simple as that."

I bit my lip for a fraction of a second before sending him a harsh glare. I tried to move and succeeded, but only the slightest bit, maybe a twitch or so, but he seemed to do something because even that was pretty difficult to do. Although he looked tired and I had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to keep the jutsu up for long, and I was right. "Damn!" His jutsu retreated back just a little later. "I knew I shouldn't have been explaining this to you!" I smirked and tightened my hold on my fan. "Then why did ya?" And with that, I opened my fan to the first moon, shining full and bright purple, proudly against the crisp white unfolded folds. He frowned and then raised an eyebrow at this.

"When you see all three moons, you'll know you've lost this fight." He glared at me and my smirk widened. In a swift movement, I spun around, and the wind current change, charging straight for him. His face went from mad to shocked. "W-what the hell?" The wind turned sharp and cut his arms here and there; just minor cuts, nothing major or life-threatening, but they hurt like hell when the wind blew by again. My smirk wasn't going anywhere. "You see, this is no ordinary fan."

His face twisted into one of confusion and I let out a small chuckle. "This fan is big for a reason. By simply flapping this fan around like a sensu, like I was taught in my Go Ju Ryu classes, I can easily redirect the wind and air pressure onto my opponent. I can cut them up by making the wind as sharp as a knife and can easily make them fly into a wall at the very least ten meters away from my current spot." He seemed surprised and slightly awed at my own explanation.

He rubbed his arms now, but they were just baby cuts, nothing serious. My smirk never faded as I opened up the fan a bit more to reveal the second moon. "Moon number two!" He tried to hide dodge the attack, but I mean come on; it was wind! I spun around again, redirecting the wind. He winced a bit it knocked him of balance and into a nearby tree but he didn't give up the fight just yet. He was tough; I gave him that.

He stood up slowly, a little blood coming from the sides of his mouth. At this, I bit my lip but a glare replaced that as he ran at me again. "You're a persistent little pest, aren't you?" He rolled his eyes, muttering "What a drag." My glare intensified at this.

"And you continue to mock me!" He smirked at my anger and darted forward, aiming to punch me. I dodged his blow easily and avoided a few kicks that he tried again. He tried to kick my face and I used the fan to block it, closing it off completely and pushing it against his leg as a sort of thin shield. "Not even close." I smirked as I pushed his foot away with the fan and reopened it; this time, completely. "Moon number three!" I crouched, spun, and swung the fan in one motion and knocked him high into the air. I then swung it a few times at him as the wind kept him upward and smirked in satisfaction as some of the trees fell and a large amount of cuts and blood erupted from his body.

Although I watched in amusement, there was a small twinge of guilt as I looked at him. I tried to patch it up with a smirk, however. "How's that feel, smartass!?" That being said, his body came flying down from its small elevation and crashed against the fat branch that I was currently on. I winced at the pain that crossed over his face. "Ugh! Damn!" My smirk receded the slightest bit, but I pushed it back up to its smug nature. "Sweet dreams, hun!" I waited for his eyes to close in unconsciousness, sending his face into a sort of peace (and it made me blush to admit that I thought it was cute!) before I turned on my heel and walked away from his body.

I trailed to the very end of the branch before letting myself fall. I grabbed my fan and pushed the wind in a different direction, pushing me onto a branch on my feet. With that, I closed up my fan and placed it back into my holster before flipping through the branches again.

My mind drifted, not focusing on where I was going, but rather on the battle, and the way Shikamaru had looked afterward. He'd looked all cut up and bloody in some parts, but his face. That face. It was so calm and peaceful, and I had to admit to myself again so damn cute.

Shikamaru was immediately wrenched out of my thoughts after someone called my name. "Temari!" My head snapped down to see Sakura, Hinata, and Ino in a clearing. I grinned as I saw them and flipped down to them, letting the wind carry me the rest of the way down. "Sup girls!" They smiled back at me. "Well I'm assuming that you all got who we instructed you to get." They nodded at me and my grin widened. "Good. So Hinata, that means you got ADHD kid, Sakura you got the Uchiha-bastard, Ino you got the wolf-boy, and I already know I got the smart-lazy-ass." They all laughed a little at the nicknames and I rolled my eyes.

They all nodded and I let my grin settle a little, placing my hands on my hips. "Okay so that means that Tenten got the weird no-contraction guy and the thousand-sticks-up-his-ass bastard." Hinata sent me a very harsh, very un-Hinata-ish glare and I laughed nervously. She was not one to mess with when she got angry.

**  
Tenten  
**This was boring. Other than Lee, no one had come to fight me yet and I was getting pissed off because of it. I was expecting these guys to be some kind of a challenge, but it seemed that the entire gang was too scared to come and fight with the leader. Well that meant nothing at all to me, because they had to take down every last person in the other gang if they expected to be the leaders of the alliance.

A sigh escaped me, soft and quiet, and I thought no one would hear it. That is, until I heard a small chuckle from behind me and turned to see silver-white eyes and long, coffee brown hair. A glare replaced my bored face, anger surging through me, not so much at him but; how long had he been tailing me without me noticing? But then I remembered that he was a Hyuga, and Hyugas were quiet and strict and it was no wonder he could tail me without me noticing.

He lunged at me, fist ready. A smirk replaced my glare as I blocked his fist with my hand and brought my own fist back to punch him. He blocked it with his free hand and raised an eyebrow at me. I glared at him, although inside I felt shocked. What would _you_ expect from someone who was about to get shot by Sai; the most emotionless, cold-hearted, evil, and creepy bastard in Konoha other than Zaku and Orochimaru?

My glare only intensified as he let go of mind hand and wrenched his out of mine. I lunged back at him myself, my fist getting ready to connect with his face. He dodged it easily, ducking down, and I took my chance and kicked him in the gut. He winced, but otherwise, he looked fine. I gritted my teeth. _'Damn! This guy's gonna be a pain!'_

I flipped backward a few times before landing in a crouching position and reaching into my pouch to pull out a kunai. The other girls may have had super strength, abilities to shut down the nervous system and knock an opponent out instantly, a giant fan that can reconvert the wind currents and air pressures, or have mind control techniques that could immediately knock out their opponent or make them turn on their ally or friend, but I had one thing that they never did.

_My_ special ability: **deadly**_ accuracy_.

No calculations were necessary for my accuracy, although sometimes I did them just for the hell of it, which led me to be extremely gifted in math as well. I reached back into my pouch and pulled out a few senbon and kunai. A smirk slithered onto my face as I flipped back a few times and chucked all of the weaponry at him. All of them were aimed to only scrape his face, arms and legs, and only one was meant to embed into his shoulder but not even that happened because somehow, he found a way to dodge them all.

Everything happened at a quick pace. I saw his smirk before I saw him spin as all the weapons went right around him, missing him except for a few scrapes and cuts. I was left awe-struck as the senbon were easily embedded into the tree behind him, and other than a couple scratches on his cheek and arm, he was unharmed. He stood in a stance similar to Hinata's, and even though he'd just dodged an attack that could've led me closer to victory, I smirked. If he was going to use a Hyuga style technique, then he was at a disadvantage. I put both hands on my hips and smirked at him lightly before getting into my own stance.

He raised a perfect eyebrow and launched himself forward to come to a quick stop in front of me. "Eight trigrams, sixty four palms!" I couldn't help but laugh at him as he continuously missed every single spot he aimed for. He was fast, but I was faster, and Hinata had once used this on me during our own training, so I knew what he was aiming for.

He seemed shocked at my ability to dodge his blows and even more shocked and even angry when I got him smack in the face and sent him flying a few feet back and falling into the ground. I stepped forward and laughed a bit. "Nice try Neji, but you can't win." I placed my foot on his stomach as he lay there on the ground, motionless, and pulled out a kunai before jumping high into the air. I twirled the kunai in the air and pulled out another kunai, and another, and then another. I was doing all this very quickly, fighting against gravity as I did so. His face showed confusion at first, but when I bit my finger and wiped the blood onto the first twirling kunai, he got it. Too late hot-shot. And with that, I flipped backward onto a branch and pushed off forward, back toward my weapons, before flipping over and over and twisting and spinning, throwing the kunai at him. They were all thrown to non-vital parts, and only if I sent them to embed into him. I was only aiming to scrape him. I spun now, and threw weapon after weapons before landing on the ground in a crouched position, hand on the ground to help balance myself.

My breathing was hard but I smirked at him as he struggled to stand. He was obviously in pain at all the cuts, clips, bruises, and in a couple places, not-too-deep stabs. He slowly brought himself to his feet and glared at me, dead on. I laughed mockingly, cruelly even. I saw him close his eyes, maybe to maintain focus or to do that freaky thing that the Hyugas did where they forced a sharper focus into their eyes.

He opened them, a new fire blazing as he lunged forward. He was faster now. I back-bended and dodged this way and that, searching quickly for an opening. I found one just as he was reaching out and ducked down and elbowed him in the ribs. He winced and clutched at his side for a short second before he smirked at me. I blinked confusedly.

Neji came at me so fast that I didn't have a clue what was going on up until I felt a sharp pain shoot down my left arm right before it went completely numb. I looked up at him, frowning and pursing my lips in slight frustration. He was smirking cockily. "What the fuck did you do?" He raised an eyebrow. "Hinata-sama didn't tell you?" I shook my head.

"Well we Hyugas have a technique where we can shut down the enemy's nervous system by adding an extra five to ten percent of force and hitting the right spot. We can easily stop the electric messages that are being sent from the brain to the heart and kill someone, but in order to do that, we have to make sure that they can't move so we have to shut down all the other parts of the nervous systems of the body."

I ground my teeth together, thinking of a way to get rid of this nervous system shut down. "Is this temporary?" He nodded. "It is, but there's not many ways to get it to wear off, unless of course I make it wear off quicker." I smirked slightly as I reached into my pouch and retracted a kunai. His eyes widened for the slightest instant. "Are you serious?" I nodded and before he could say anything more, I jabbed the knife into my arm. A wince escaped me as the blood trailed down my arm slowly, the wound deep but not too deep, the feeling coming back easily. I smirked over at him and said, somewhat gloatingly, "There's way number one."

I moved my arm a little, just to make sure it was fully functional (although it was kinda hard to ignore the little jabbing needles of the electricity running through my arm again). Neji was surprised completely at my action, but he regained his composure and smirked. "Well, it's not everyday that you get an opponent who stabs themselves to win a fight." I smirked back at him. "That's because you've never had the Weapons Mistress as an opponent." He frowned. I laughed a bit, ignoring the pain and pulling the kunai out of my arm, letting the blood flow freely.

A smirk came over his face as I placed a hand over the cut briefly, the blood overflowing onto my uninjured hand. Ignoring the shot of pain coursing through my arm, I pulled out a few senbon and quick as lightning, chucked them at him. He was caught off guard and a few of the senbon embedded themselves into him, not too deep, and not even scraping any vital places. He fell backward onto the ground and I made my way over to him. _There's no way in hell he's getting back up_. But he did anyway, quicker than I imagined, and came at me again. Luckily, I had fast reflexes so I dodged all of his attacks this time to assure that I wouldn't have to stab myself again. He did catch me off guard and kick me in the chin, sending me flying into a tree as I let out a loud swear. Now my back was hurting too.

"Damn it Neji!"

I let myself fall to the floor, and coughed a bit of blood up. I looked up at him, one of my eyes closing automatically in pain. I didn't know how he did it. He looked cut up much worse than me and yet and he seemed to be in better shape.

I was confused and conflicted on whether I should use my special move or just attack continuously. My special move usually drained me, but kicking and punching would just drag out the fight and _I'd _probably pass out before _he_ did. He seemed to be in better shape than me right about now, though, so my choice rested on my last resort.

With a growl, I picked myself up quickly and reached deep into my pouch to carefully retract two kunai, holding them out in front of me. Neji raised an eyebrow, looking bemused in my movements. A smirk crept onto my lips as I set both kunai on the floor and prepared myself. His eyes were watching, assessing, analyzing _everything_ about me. In a sudden move I grabbed both kunai from off the floor and looked straight at him. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to use this but you put this on yourself Neji!" In another quick, even faster than before, move, I jumped into the air and tossed the kunai higher than me before pulling out a mass supply of weapons. Twisting and turning in the air, I tossed kunai after knife after senbon after shuriken at him.

They all struck him, scraping him, deeply, but not too deeply, and one embedding itself into his arm, but again, not too deep. He fell back with a 'thud' and took in a heavy breath. I smirked and landed easily, the two kunai landing in my open hands by the grip. "And you're down in two point six seconds." He struggled to bring up his head to be able to see me, but couldn't, and settled for letting his head fall back down onto the tree.

I reveled in the fact that he would probably pass out from blood loss, yet he didn't, I nearly did. In the next second, my vision went blurry, and the world spun. I began feeling light-headed. So much so that in the time it took for me to blink (or at least that's what it was to me), I was being hoisted up by Neji, my arm draped on his shoulders. "How the hell are you…standing?" My words were spaced and my breathing off from blood loss. He made a move to shrug, but a pained expression crossed his face and he settled for speaking. "It's not easy, but I'll live."

A frown crossed my features. "So…if you're standing…does that mean that…I lose?" He simply smirked, amusement in his eyes. I gulped.

**  
Sakura  
**A sigh escaped me as I looked at the time on my phone. We'd all been standing in this clearing for a full twenty minutes, and there was still no sign of Tenten, leaving us to stand in impatient poses (i.e. with our hands on our hips or our arms crossed). Sounds of coughing and grunting reached me, and my head snapped in the general direction of the sound.

There, heading toward us from the northeast, was Tenten, arm around Neji's shoulder as he helped her limp toward us. She was bloody and bruised, but there was a smile on her face, one eye closed to cope with the pain. And only one thought registered in my head. _'She won._'

I smiled right back at her as she reached us. In the brief instant that Neji let her go, her eyes shut closed and she fell to the floor on her back. In the blink of an eye, the girls were at her side. Up close, I could see a deep, bloody gash on her arm, and a few cuts around the higher part of her arms. Based on the dry blood, I would've guessed that she obtained the wound ten minutes beforehand.

Pushing Neji away, I reached into my pouch and retracted an alcohol pad. Normally, it would've stung, but she was unconscious, so it didn't matter. I gasped at how deep the pad went in when I cleaned it. A glare came onto my face. "What the hell did you do to her?" He crossed his arms and raised a brow. "All I did was gentle fist. _She_ stabbed herself." I rolled my eyes and my glare intensified, though at the sight of his glare, I backed down. I quickly wrapped her am in bandages and cleaned her up with a few more alcohol pads, striking up _official_ conversation. "HAHA! WE WON YOU BIG LOSER! We lead this alliance!" He glared at me again before turning his head away angrily. I laughed. "No need to be ashamed. We went through hell and lots of psycho training with Tenten."

He glanced back over and raised an eyebrow. "We _do_ have to be prepared for -!" Tenten had woken up to slap a hand over my mouth. I glared down at her. She tried to move her arm and caught her wince when she couldn't. That wasn't what had me worried. What had me worried was that she wanted it to be _that much_ of a secret?

**  
Tenten  
**She was really going to blab to him what we'd spoken about in Suna? She knew that was confidential! From one side of the clearing, Neji's gang was coming toward us. At the sight of their leader standing over me, Naruto let out a shout. "Hell yeah, Neji! You won! Now…what the hell happened to your clothes?"

"No…we won…" I said quietly, letting my hand drop from Sakura's mouth and rolling over. He just raised an eyebrow and looked down at me. Neji repeated me. "We lost. She just lost a lot of blood…that was her fault though, not mine." I nodded in approval and Naruto let out a really loud swear. "He's mad because he's a sore loser. He doesn't give up that easily because of that. Naruto who did you fight?" He was speaking to me during the first part, but by the end he was addressing Naruto.

"Hinata." He said without hesitation. Neji's eyebrow was raised. "How the hell did you lose to her? She's weak." I glared as menacingly as possible in my current condition at him. From the corner of my eye, I could see Hinata's scared face. I struggled to get up, but managed it, and stomped over to Neji weakly. My bandages were drowning in my blood now that it was flowing downward again. Sakura was rambling about how it wasn't smart to be standing up when I lost so much blood. Getting tired of it, I spoke to her without turning around. "Yo forehead! Can you shut the hell up! I'll be fine, watch!" I could _feel_ her glaring at me. "Alright, Panda, but when you _do_ pass out from blood loss and no one can drag your ass back home except for me don't go crying to any of the girls because it'll be all your fault!"

Ignoring her, I turned on Neji. "And you! Don't you ever talk about Hinata in third person in front of her, because that's a big sign of disrespect. And don't you ever call her weak because she doesn't deserve that kind of shit from you. I warned you before. I was going easy on you for the sake of the alliance but so help me Neji Hyuga if you even think about thinking about hurting Hinata in any way possible I will knock your ass into a two year coma! You got me?!" He was glaring at me, but he didn't rebuttal.

A deep breath sent me falling toward the ground, up until Neji wrapped his arms around my waist and held me there to keep me from falling. "Put her down…_gently!_" Sakura added the last part when she saw the look crossing his face. He frowned and lay me down on the grass. It scratched against the bare skin that showed through the ripped parts of my shirt. Sakura peeled of my bandages and replaced them easily. She looked down at me and let out a small sigh. "We're gonna have to go home and push some lead in there. You're blood is like thinner than paper thin." I frowned but nodded.

I staggered back to my feet. I wasn't going to let them see me like that. My arm reached out toward Temari and I grabbed a weak grip of her fan. She raised a blond eyebrow at me. "Mind telling me why you're holding onto my fan?" I frowned. "Mine telling me why you're being so bitchy?" She never took offense to these things; she thought they were funny. She laughed and grinned big. "Thank you!" I grinned back. "You're welcome slut!"

"Whore!"

"Prostitute!"

"Corner bitch!"

"…Damn you left me with nothing else…"

And we both broke out into laughter, although I stopped when it gave me a small headache. "Tenten, you look a hot mess." I grinned. "But I still look hot, right?" She raised her eyebrow again. "Umm…about that." And she laughed again. My grin was still in place. "But seriously? Did he seduce you and go in for the kill?" I glared up at her weakly. "No, he's just quick. Although I must admit not quick enough to defeat the Weapons Mistress. And if anyone does any seducing, it's you, me, and Ino!" I laughed, but stopped again and put my free hand on my head. Sakura sighed. "You look fucked up enough. Let's get you home."

With that, she pulled me up onto her back, not losing her balance or tripping once. She had intense strength that was forever unmatched (thank God for her mother's genetics!). I tried my best not to suffocate her as I wrapped my arms around her neck. I felt everyone else's eyes on me, but ignored them. "That _so_ doesn't look right…" Were the words that came out of Naruto's mouth. I frowned and Sakura yelled out. "TEMARI, TAKE CARE OF THE DUMB BLOND!" Ino turned to us. "Why do I have to fight Temari?" I laughed and then cringed. "I meant Naruto, Pig!" Ino frowned. "Shut the fuck up forehead!"

Temari turned to Naruto, smirking, as Sakura and Ino jumped into the trees. "Alright kid, this is gonna hurt like hell!" I heard her say. She cackled wildly as she gave Naruto a five second head start and starting chasing after him, pulling her fan open and swishing it back and forth, redirecting the wind currents.

Shikamaru's lazy drawl rang out again. "Oh yeah! Did I forget to mention she can control wind?" I could _hear_ Akuri Kaze's impressed looks. And then Sasuke's own deep monotone drawled out. "Yo, Kiba, you know you got something shining on your lips, right?" From the corner of my eye, I could see Ino blushing profusely. It barely registered, though, because pretty soon my entire world went black, and I slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

_Yeah, I got rid of a whole bunch of useless crap lmaoo and made the grammer and spelling better =D so...here ya go =] . Thanks to all who read and review please =] !_


	3. School

**I own nothing except the plot of this story and I'm giving you permission to at the end of this chapter draw a picture of me and ripped it into a billion pieces and scream how much you hate me…2deuces2…**

**Chapter Three**

**First Day of School**

**Tenten**

I groaned a bit as I opened my eyes. It was dark outside. I took a quick peek at the clock and sighed at the time. Five o'clock in the morning.

I grunted as I pulled myself up and inhaled sharply as a strong pain overtook my torso. I hugged my waist futilely in an attempt to make the pain stop. I felt something wet on my shoulder and looked up.

It was Temari. She grinned at me. I grinned back. She'd just finished brushing her teeth and was ready to go out on her morning jog. She wore one of her many jogging outfits.

She wore a red sports jacket, a white tee under that, and black kick-boxing shorts. Her white Reeboks gleamed and brightened up her position. I smiled at her and stretched a bit, wincing as the pain returned to my torso.

I yawned and laughed lowly as Temari covered her mouth and nose with her hand. "Ew…morning breath. Chick, if you ain't gonna go back to sleep then go brush your teeth."

I got up from the bed and held onto my desk next to it to support myself. My legs were still weak from yesterday's fight.

Damn that Neji. Why did he have to be so strong? I was going easy on him but he wasn't going easy on me? _What a gentleman. _Yes, that was most definitely sarcasm. I sighed quietly.

School didn't start for another three hours. I had plenty of time left. I walked into the bathroom and brushed my teeth quickly and thoroughly.

I dried my face with the towel and walked back out into the bedroom. I saw that Temari had left the house already.

There was always a way to know how Temari was gone. Her fan would not be hanging on the wall over her bed if she wasn't here.

I took a quick look around the room. The moon shone on Sakura, Hinata, and Ino's faces, illuminating them on the side. Hinata was curled up into a ball on her side. The blankets were wrapped tightly around her shoulders and her face looked at peace.

Sakura was lying on her back, her hands resting on her chest where her heart was located. She seemed peaceful enough. Her long pink hair was spread out on her pillow. Her blanket stopped right under her chest and for a second a look of anger flashed across her face.

"Nn…get away you idiot…cha!" She said it groggily, seeing as she was still sleeping. I giggled to myself. Ino was lying on her stomach, her face to the pillow. I giggled a bit and smiled when I saw her hair lying on the bed, spread out behind her in a curtain. It was so _long_.

I felt a sudden pang of jealousy. My hair was only past my shoulders. I sighed, and tugged on my hair silently.

I decided I might as well do something so I took out a sketch pad and let myself be engrossed by my artwork.

Somewhere along the lines, the sun rose and my sketchpad was illuminated even more so. I looked up, closing my eyes half-way to not get the full blast of the sun. I glanced at the clock. It was six thirty. I took a quick peak at me drawing.

It was peaceful. A bird was sitting on a tree in a nest, although something was missing…the bird looked lonely.

I couldn't bring myself to draw another, because I thought that if I did, it would mess up the picture. The bird didn't look so happy either. It looked more emotionless than it did emotional.

I closed the sketchpad and quietly grabbed my towel off the rack next to the bathroom door and pulled my new school uniform out of my drawer.

I crept into the bathroom and showered quickly, then wrapped a towel around my body and clinging to what little warmth was left in my body before I stepped out the shower.

Goosebumps were creeping up my arms. I quickly dressed and brushed through my hair before twisting it into its two twin buns.

I sighed and looked at myself in the mirror. The uniform wasn't exactly appealing to the human eye but not that ugly either. It was sort of normal.

I had on a long sleeved, white polo shirt with a slate sailor collar and black cuffs. The skirt was slate and the socks that I'd picked out to wear with the uniform were black with a slate stripe near the top. I threw on a pair of black converse and had tied light-blue ribbons in my hair.

I looked decent. I had added a bit of my own style to the uniform. I threw on some cut-off black gloves and smiled at my reflection. I was ready.

I turned at the sound of a grunt. Sakura was waking up. She yawned a bit, sitting up and stretching before blinking for her eyes to come into focus. "T-Tenten? What are you doing up so early? School doesn't start for another two hours."

I pointed to the clock. "It's seven o'clock. We're in Konoha now, not Suna. And school over here starts at eight thirty, not at nine."

Her eyes widened and she was in the bathroom before I could blink. I heard the shower running and chuckled. "Sakura-chan, you're such a nerd." I heard her low growl from the bathroom and laughed nervously.

"Did I say you're a nerd? I meant to say you've got nerve." The growling ceased and I sighed in relief.

I went over and sat down on my bed, picking up my sketchpad and opening it to my picture again.

I sighed as I stared at it. This picture would never be complete. I knew that. If I put another bird by its side, the picture would be ruined and if I didn't, it would seem empty and disappointing.

I sighed and flipped to another page. I was halfway through a sketch of the girls and me in our fighting stances when Sakura came out of the bathroom and Hinata walked in. She was so quiet; I hadn't even noticed that she had woken up.

I blinked and stared up at Sakura as she brushed through her hair. She turned to look at me. "What is it Panda-chan?" I blinked and then smiled sheepishly at her. "Well, truth be told…I'm kinda scared of going to school…"

She laughed a bit. I glared at her. She walked over to me, brush still in hand.

"What? Scared of the new kids and of meeting of new friends?" I crossed my arms and nodded slowly. She smiled at me. "Well…don't forget… we're not here to make friends, we're here to make alliances. And if it helps, Naruto and Kiba and Lee all seem friendly."

I put a finger to my chin, thinking about it. I was considering that. I nodded at Sakura. She was like my mother at times. She always knew how to make me feel better.

She was like the mother I never had. She always knew what to say.

I never liked moving to new places. Meeting new people wasn't exactly on my 'life agenda' and having to get used to new teachers was just as bad. I didn't like the feeling of being the subject of gossip in school.

Ino walked out of the bathroom, and Temari, who'd arrived about ten minutes ago, walked in.

I looked up at Ino. Her hair was in the usual and her uniform had short sleeves. She'd thrown on some white arm-warmers with a purple stripe on the bottom and top. She had on white leggings under her skirt and was currently slipping on some white converse that had pink and purple stars scattered around them.

She looked cool. She was always rocking some fresh ass clothes, as were the rest of us.

I took a quick look at Hinata, who was combing through her short hair and putting it in its usual style.

She looked so cute! The uniform made her look so much more adorable and innocent. She wore some gray converse with the uniform and had added a black tie to it. She looked so sweet and smart and so damn ADORABLE!

She saw me staring from the mirror and turned her head to face me. "Something wrong Ten-chan?" I shook my head slowly, and stood up.

I grabbed my white book-bag from the bedside table and reached inside. I pulled out my notebooks and started labeling them and doodling on them absentmindedly, boredly.

Temari walked out of the bathroom and into our small bedroom.

"How do I look gals?" We turned to look at her and gasped.

Her hair was in the usual four bunches with the bangs out. She had on her uniform. What made her different is that she wore fishnet all the way up on one thigh and the other starting at her calf and ending at her foot, where short black, heeled boots were. She'd thrown on a black scarf and had a purple carrier slung around her middle so that she could carry her fan.

"Temari…why are you taking your fan to school?" She grinned toothily at me. "You should know that I never go anywhere without my fan." I sighed. "Obviously you're going to be just like you were at our old school…" I smiled up at her. She grinned.

I stood up from my spot on the bed and walked into the kitchen behind Hinata, who'd left the room about two minutes ago.

I walked into our bite-sized kitchen and saw her making breakfast. She seemed at peace.

I walked up to her. "What you cooking Hina-chan?" She giggled at the nickname. "I'm making scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes, and toast." I licked my lips just to make her laugh. "Sounds good!" She smiled and nodded.

I took a quick look around the kitchen, taking the time to notice colors of the walls and the floor. The walls were a regular white, and the floors were just grey tiles. They cabinets were a chestnut color and looked pretty enough. The stove was on the far, left corner of the room with the sink about five feet away from it.

I puffed a bang out of my face, smiling at Hinata as she set down a plate on the table and told me to go sit down and eat.

I gladly dug in as she put the rest of the plates of food in front of the other chairs.

Sakura walked in and punched me in the head as I swallowed my bacon. I choked on it for a bit and coughed and sputtered as the greasy strip of meat went down, glaring at her. She smirked at me.

"I could've died you idiot and I think you just gave me esophagus damage!" She laughed a bit. I groaned. It was a Monday and already bad enough that I had to go to school…why did she have to make it worse?

After a noisy breakfast, in which Temari had yelled at Ino for attempting to throw her fan out the window and see if it would float in the air, we all hopped into Temari's Porsche and drove off to school.

I was currently clinging to the seat, scared and clinging to consciousness to keep myself from puking. She was blasting to an astounding three hundred. My heart was about to pop out of my chest. I felt terrified.

She was laughing freely, her fan between Ino's legs in front of the passenger seat. "Ha-ha! Tenten you're so uptight! It's hilarious! You need to loosen up and learn to love the road! Love the wind through your hair!" Ino nodded.

Sakura growled. "Ugh…Temari, for once, can't you drive at a normal speed?" She blinked, and looked back at us. It was a miracle she wasn't crashing into anything. "What're you talking about? This is a slow speed. My normal speed is much faster!"

I put a hand to my forehead. "God bless whoever has to be taken to the emergency room by you…" She laughed. I rolled my eyes and put my hand back on the seat. Hinata was also terrified. She was trying to hide it although she was shaking slightly and was slightly jumpy.

We took a sharp turn, which caused me to land on top of Sakura, who in turn pushed me into Hinata, who giggled and pushed me off lightly. I groaned. "I didn't realize I was a boomerang."

The girls all laughed. Temari sped up a bit and I felt myself grow even woozier. She pulled into an empty parking lot and parked perfectly in a space. I pushed past Sakura, who yelled out a "CHA WAIT TILL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU AT LUNCH" and ran to the nearest trash can, leaning over it and waiting for something to happen.

I heard footsteps stop beside me and looked up. Neji was standing there, staring at me with one eyebrow raised.

"Did you just?"

"No."

"Then why were you?"

"You obviously need a ride with Temari one day."

He kept his eyebrow raised. I laughed a bit. He shrugged and walked away. "Hey! You could at least take me to the building! NEVER turn your back on me!" He looked back at me, stopping for a minute, and then smirked and walked away.

I growled under my breath and walked after him briskly. "Could you at least show me where the main office is?" He shrugged and pulled me by the wrist to a tall brick building covered in graffiti. He let my hand drop to my side. I gaped at the place.

"This is a school's main office?" He nodded. I groaned as I walked inside, seeing the rest of my girls there. They turned to me. Hinata smiled at me, pointing at the schedule and then to the front desk.

I sighed and walked up to a fairly attractive woman with coal-black eyes and short black hair. I scratched the back of my head, somewhat nervous. "Hello, I'm Tenten, one of the new transfer students and I need my schedule…" "Well hello there Tenten! I'm Shizune, the secretary."

I smiled at her and shook her hand. She handed me a piece of paper showing me my class.

I turned to Temari who smiled at me. "Tema-chan, what homeroom?"

She looked back down at her schedule and turned back to look at me. "I'm in room W640." I blinked and laughed. "You got Baki? I got some weirdo named Gai-sensei." I heard a grunt from the door. Neji was still there.

"I didn't know you were still there! Who is Gai-sensei exactly?" He sighed and explained it in a very short sentence.

"He's the most annoying teacher on the planet." I blinked and laughed at his bluntness. Lee walked in a little later, holding a bouquet of flowers. "Shizune-sensei! I brought these flowers to brighten up the office. What do you think?"

I saw Ino stand up and eye the flowers as I took notice of Lee's band-aids. She grabbed the bouquet out of his hands and sighed, sitting down with it in her hands.

"I think that these flowers are adorable but the person who organized those sucks at flower arranging. Lemme just fix this."

She replaced and reorganized the flowers so that a group of Cosmos was in the middle and the rest of them surrounding it. I smiled, and the other girls gasped, as did Shizune. Ino grinned triumphantly.

"That's the best arrangement I've ever seen! I'll be keeping those, thank you!" Shizune bustled over and snatched the flowers from Ino, who laughed.

Shizune smiled as she set the flowers in a vase and placed it on her desk. Ino turned to me, smiling. "Alrighty then, let's get going Saku-chan, Hina-chan." I smiled at them and turned to walk away but bumped into a well-built chest. I looked up and saw Neji. "Still here and may I ask why?" He raised an eyebrow, smirking.

"I just thought you'd like to know where your homeroom is but if you insist on having me leave that badly then I'll just go." I grabbed his arm. "NO!" I sighed. "Take me to your leader…I mean homeroom." I heard Temari laugh.

I groaned as I walked closely behind him, making sure to not trip over anything in my tired state.

I hated the silence that was going on between us…so I spoke.

"So…Neji…you did a kick-ass job yesterday. I'm still sore a little…" He raised an eyebrow as he turned his head to me for a minute, and then turned away, saying a 'hn'. I groaned. "Listen, if you're gonna say 'hn' then you might as well tell me what it means." He smirked and 'hn'ed again.

I crossed my arms, and turned my face away from his. "Stubborn ass." He blinked a bit and I turned to see him stifle a laugh. I perked up a bit. "Hey…did I just make you stifle a laugh?" He 'hn'ed again and I growled dangerously low, grabbing him by the shirt collar so that his face was close enough to feel my breath.

"Listen, I don't give a fuck if you're a gang leader. I am too. I can easily kick your ass, you're no trouble. If you keep saying that 'hn' shit then I expect you to correct yourself and give me the fucking definition of whatever the hell you just said and I won't hesitate to force it out of you. I'm not one of your little fangirls that swoons and faints whenever you 'hn' or smirk cockily like the bastard you are. I will kick your ass if you disrespect me. Get it straight: The Weapons Mistress don't play!"

He blinked a bit as he looked down at me. His face held no emotion though his eyes showed shock. I smirked, satisfied. He turned away from me and walked ahead of me, way faster. I blinked. "How the…what the…HYUGA!"

He was pissing me off. It was like he got his period or something.

I easily caught up to him and gave him a glare. "What the hell is your problem? Why the hell do you run away from me and why do you treat me like shit?"

He blinked down at me, and then glared. I stopped walking and crossed my arms. He stopped a few paces ahead of me and turned to face me. He had a cocky smirk on his face as he turned his head up arrogantly.

"I only treat you how you deserve to be treated, what you're worth." I grit my teeth and grabbed him by the collar, talking through them. "Wanna repeat that you cocky, stuck-up, conceited-ass, gay-ass, wannabe, weak-ass, mother-fucking, arrogant, irritating, lying, fuck-faced bitch?" He looked down at me and laughed.

My glare became even more pronounced. He removed my hands from his shirt and pushed me back, not too gently if I might add. "You're one stupid little girl if you think that you can beat me." I grinned. "I did yesterday."

He rolled his eyes. I groaned and crossed my arms as I regained my stride next to him, walking still to homeroom.

The rest of the way there was silent. This sucked…no conversation although I couldn't decide which was worse. A conversation with this emo bastard or a dreadful silence between us. They were both bad…obviously because talking to him was like talking to an ice cube or a caveman frozen in time.

I laughed a bit to myself as I considered that. He turned to look at me with a confused expression on his face. "What's so funny?" He demanded.

I rolled my eyes. "The fact that someone like you reminds me of an ice-cube or a glacier…" He didn't laugh. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms, pouting and walking ahead of him. I could hear him snicker from behind me. I rolled my eyes again.

_Stupid emo, conceited, egotistical bastard!_ _Stupid Neji! He's acting like a fucking ice cube. What the hell is wrong with this lil' bitch? UGH! I hate this stupid ass school already but I'm still in high school…and I gotta stop Sai and them…_

I cracked my knuckles subconsciously and I heard Neji clear his throat. "Tenten…" I looked behind me to see him standing by a door. I scratched the back of my head sheepishly and walked into the classroom, him following right behind me.

He took a seat two desks away from Lee, to the left. I walked up to a teacher clad in a green sweater and sweat pants. He had a jet-black bowl cut like Lee's…I guess I knew where Lee got his inspiration from.

He turned to me. "Youthful girl!? Who might you be!? Are you the new student that Tsunade-sama mentioned to me?!" I scowled at his loudness and nodded. "I'm Tenten…" He grinned at me and pointed to the seat next to Neji and Lee. "Take your seat then, youthful Tenten!"

I rolled my eyes as soon as my back was to him and walked to my seat, setting my book-bag down next to the leg of my desk and sitting down. I inwardly groaned. I was next to Neji…great.

I pulled out my sketchpad, which I'd stuffed into my book-bag right before we left, and a pencil and started doodling.

I was halfway through a picture of me and the girls when Lee tapped me on the shoulder. I looked up at him. "Yes Lee?" He pointed to the front of the room, where Gai-sensei was pointing to a math problem on the board. "Tenten-chan, I think he wants you to answer that question."

I looked at it for a minute…

_If angles A, B, and C are all supplementary and angle A is equivalent to 3x-5, x being thirty, then what are B and C if C is greater than B and they are both semi-equivalent to 8 multiplied by y which is equivalent to the square root of thirty-six._

I frowned as I did the math mentally.

Three multiplied by thirty is ninety, subtract five and you get eighty-five. Meaning that there's ninety-five degrees left over and that B+C would equal that amount. If they were both semi-equivalent to eight multiplied by the square root of thirty-six, then that would mean I would have to multiply eight by six. If I have forty-eight and I need to add two numbers semi-equivalent to that number to get ninety-five, then I would have to go through a series of numbers.

I frowned as I ran through the many pairs and snapped my fingers. I looked at the clock…thirty seconds to figure that out. "B is forty-five and C is fifty!" Gai-sensei's eyes widened as he stared at me. "Um…correct…I didn't think you would get that…I just started the lesson a couple of minutes ago."

I shrugged. "It's just adding algebra concepts to angle proportions such as complimentary and supplementary." The whole class looked at me and blinked.

I turned my head away, embarrassed and continued to doodle in my sketchpad. I heard Gai mutter something along the lines of 'another Shikamaru type student' before he continued to teach his lesson.

I sighed quietly to myself as I doodled, droning out the sounds of the other students scribbling down notes in their notebooks and copying whatever was on the board. I felt someone tapping my shoulder and turned to look at a boy with silver hair pulled into a ponytail and mischievous black eyes. He gave me a really bad feeling.

"What the hell do you want?" I asked moodily. He smirked evilly. "You're pretty smart. Hmm…twin buns, chocolate brown eyes…You're the leader of that gang that left a couple years ago, aren't you?" I rolled my eyes and nodded slowly, staring at him intently right after.

"You're the one that plans on stopping us from carrying out our…plan." I growled lowly, dangerously. "Yeah, what of it?" I barked back. He laughed lowly, so that the teacher wouldn't hear us. "Well…if you and your little girls think you're strong enough then try, but all I'm saying is that you'll just be killed in the process."

I clenched my fists and was just a centimeter away from grabbing his collar and slamming my fist into his face when Gai-sensei called my name.

"Tenten!" I turned around in my chair quickly, making me self look like there was nothing wrong. He stared at me suspiciously. I shrugged it off. "Yes, Gai-sensei?"

He pointed to Sai, who was standing in the doorway, smirking evilly. "This young man has a message to deliver from the principal." I growled and slowly stood. I felt Neji and Lee's eyes on me, as well as everyone else's as I walked over to Sai and crossed my arms, my hip out to the side.

"I'm listening." His smirk vanished and he grabbed my wrist, trying to pull me out of the classroom. "It's not meant for other people to hear." I groaned and followed him out.

As soon as we were out of earshot I snatched my hand away from him and demanded, "What the fuck do you want?" He smiled menacingly, that same creepy smile he carried all through middle school before I'd left.

"Good to see you not pressing a knife into my neck." I snorted and glared at him. He put his hands up in mock surrender. I rolled my eyes. "I just came to talk a little business. How about…you and your girls join us…" I clenched my fists and ground my teeth together, and then breathed deeply.

"Hell no! No way in fucking hell will I ever join forces with you and the sick bastards." He smirked playfully in a disturbing way. "You're forgetting me." I heard a whiny voice say and turned to see a girl with black horn-rimmed glasses and flaming, uneven red hair with a few bangs scattered across her forehead.

She stepped forward, her stilettos _click_ing with every step. I took a look at her uniform. It was way too tight. A lot of her cleavage was showing and so was her breast-line. Her skirt barely covered her ass and instead of the socks, she wore fishnet under the skirt into her four inch heels.

She walked over to us, and stood next to Sai, whom I just noticed, had disinfected the cut on his neck from the day before and had a finger wrapped in bandages. We'd beaten him that hard?

I smirked in spite of myself but wiped it off as soon as I realized I had it. Sai cleared his throat and stretched out his arm to show off the girl as if she were merchandise.

"This is Karin…She's the leader of…what's it called Karin?" She smirked proudly and pointed her thumb to her under-sized chest. "I'm the leader of The Pros…" I blinked and then laughed. "What's it stand for, the prostitutes?" I said between giggles. She glared at me and grabbed me by the collar of my uniform, slamming me into the wall.

I felt the bruises reform themselves over the ones that Neji had given me the day before and growled dangerously low, wincing. She smirked at me as she looked up, her coal-black eyes now visible from under her glasses.

"It's short for the professionals, dumb ass." I laughed harshly. "Professionals? The only thing you could be professional at is fucking a guy to keep up that crappy shit you most likely call a headquarters."

She growled similarly to me and pushed me up against the wall harder. I groaned as I felt my kidneys contract painfully. I grabbed her by her own shirt collar and pushed her off of me, landing on the floor with one foot on the ground and the other leg on its knee, using my hand for even more balance, when she fell back.

I smirked at her as she lay on her back and I stood. Her face was angry as she slowly stood. Se let out a loud, furious growl and another voice rang through the hallway, twice as whiny and twice as annoying.

"What's wrong Karin, did that bitch with the panda ears say something to you that she knows she can't back up."

I glared down the hall at a girl with jaw length blue hair and long bangs framing her face in the front. Her eyes sparkled a mischievous purple-blue color. She was really just as much as Karin, with the exception that this girl actually had an oversized chest, as opposed to Karin who had an undersized chest.

She walked down the hallway, her own stiletto boots _click_ing as she walked over and helped Karin to her feet. I glared at her, fists ready. "Wanna start something?" She smirked. "I would but it looks like you took the opportunity and did it yourself." I growled. "Unless of course you're giving me a sign to. Well come on little bitch, show me what you got." I ran forward, ready to punch this damn girl in the face.

"GLADLY!" I said as I slammed my fist into her jaw.

She fell back and dead on her ass. I smirked as I regained my posture and she wiped the blood from her mouth.

"Alright, you got me, now we got you. KARIN!" "GOING AMI!" My vision was abstracted by a flash of red and I back-bended and then flipped over myself as Karin attempted to punch me. She quickly kicked me in the gut and I fell to the floor, my head bouncing against the hard marble.

She smirked down at me, satisfied at my pained cry. "Little bitch! Don't fucking mess with me." I turned onto my stomach and tried to push my self up slowly. I heard a velvety voice call from behind. "And here I thought you were a better fighter if you were actually able to beat me."

Neji?

I looked behind me, wincing in pain as I turned my torso a bit to get a better view. He was standing there, looking down at me and seeming somewhat disappointed. I groaned and finally pulled my self up.

I saw Ami saunter over to him, switching her hips in what she probably thought was a seductive manner. "Neji-kun…" She cooed. I gagged loudly. She turned to look at me. "What's the matter? Jealous because Neji likes me better?" I snorted with laughter. "Neji, liking you? I've only known him for a day and I can tell you this; if his own innocent, non-slutty, pretty, adorable little cousin is not on his good list then trust me, you sure as hell aren't on his 'people I absolutely adore' list either."

She sent me an icy glare that I returned before I punched Karin in the face, catching her off guard and kicking Ami in the gut. She fell off Neji and onto the ground, wrapping her arms around her torso and groaning in pain. I smirked in satisfaction.

"Looks like the only one who couldn't back up what they said here was you, you fucking whore." With that I turned on my heel and walked began to walk away but froze when I heard the next few words that came from Sai's mouth.

"Well then, just so you know, it'll be impossible to us. We're not that easy to get rid of. From here on out, we rule this town. The plan's been set in motion and there's nothing you can do to stop it. It's futile. You and your pathetic little girls can't do a thing."

I bowed my head slowly. So it was true. This was the second person to confirm it. Those two years of training in Suna were worth it because we were about to show these guys what we were made of.

I could hear Neji's footfalls coming toward me and I put out an arm to stop him. It worked. He froze in his tracks. I closed my fist tightly; my head still bowed, and smirked slightly to my self.

"You really think your meaningless threats are gonna stop us from trying. Even if we all die in the process, we will put an end to you guys. We're not scared of you and your goons." I whispered it harshly, and then I turned my head. I could feel the spark in my eye, the adrenaline rushing through me in excitement and at the truth in my own words. "We _will _prove ourselves." I saw him look at me in surprise at the smirk adorning my face.

My back was to him but my head was turned so that I could see them all. Neji was behind me, looking at me with a curious look in his eye. Ami and Karin were both still on the ground, wincing, wide-eyed at me. Sai was looking dead up dumbfounded.

I clenched my fist tighter and felt my nails digging into the skin of my palm. I ignored the wave of pain from the cuts although the blood spewing from my hand, across my wrist and dripping onto the dusty, crumbling floors was inevitable.

"We_ will_ put a stop to your plans. We _will_ win this fight. A message to all of you," I said, looking at Karin, Ami, and Sai. "We aren't all talk. We're all action. We've all seen death, we've been the cause of death, we don't fear death. We'd take death as a gift to escaping this world and living in peace in the afterlife. We'd take death with a smile, no regrets, no tears, no misery, no fear, no last words. We'd stare death in the face and smile. We'd get shot, feel our hearts stop beating, and kiss the world goodbye with a smile.

We'd smile before death, while it's overtaking us, we'd smile even after our own deaths, and feel proud because we will put a stop to your plans." I pulled out the knife I'd strapped to my thigh and stabbed my hand uncaringly. "I take these words to the grave as an oath of blood, a vow. I won't die miserable or sad, I'll die proud, something my parents failed to do. I'll die proud of my self for putting an end to you guys. Mark my words; I won't go easy on you and I won't give in to death immediately, but when it finally does come for me, in reality and not in vain, I will smile and take down as many as I can with me."

I turned my head and pulled the knife out of my hand, clenching it shut back into the fist. "My motto: live life, no regrets. Whatever happens, happens." With that I walked away, feeling excited and empowered. I stopped abruptly and added as an after tone, "Oh yeah, and good luck because trust me, you're gonna need it."

I continued walking down the hallway, completely ignoring the strained murmurs and whispers from behind me. The bell rang and I ran from them, into Gai-sensei's class to grab my stuff and to my locker.

----

It was time for lunch and I was waiting in line to buy my self a pizza, a brownie, and a soda. I groaned as thought to my self_ 'When on earth is this stupid line gonna get moving…'_

I stepped forward as the line moved and the next person ordered their food. Subconsciously, I began humming to Come by Namie Amuro. I was finishing humming the first verse when someone rubbed up against my rear.

I clenched my injured hand into a fist in front of me and turned to see none other than Zaku…the damn fucking leader of his gang: The Annihilators. He was the same as ever with his black hair spiked up and his coal black eyes shining in the light of the cafeteria mischievously in anticipation and excitement.

"You!" He nodded, smirking. "Yes Ten-chan, it's me." He said in his deep, gruff voice. "Happy to see me, I had a feeling you would be." I turned my entire body to face him, taking a step back as the line moved forward. He took a step forward.

"Don't call me Ten-chan." I gave him a glare that he ignored. "And why not, you're still my girl, aren't you?" I rolled my eyes in disgust. "Ugh, I was never your girl, I'm not now, and I never will be."

He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me to him. "Awe, come one baby don't be like that." I growled in disgust and pushed against his chest to get away from him. He forced me to take a step back as he took one forward. I kept trying to push him but to no avail. He smirked evilly down at me.

"I can be however I want to be now get the fuck off me." He tightened his hold on me and I gasped in surprise at the amount of force on my already sore back. "You're still as feisty as ever, aren't you." He crashed his lips onto mine. I struggled to push him away but I couldn't. I wouldn't give him what he wanted though.

I thrashed against him. He pushed me forward in the still extremely long line. I growled and kept on pushing him away from me.

I felt his wet tongue run over my mouth and I could only think of one word; disgusting. I punched him in the chest in an attempt to get him off of me but he was persistent. He bit my lip and I gasped in surprise, sucking in a sharp breath. He smirked, satisfied as he shoved his tongue into my mouth.

I continued to struggle against him but I couldn't. He just wouldn't let go. He wrapped his other arm around me now and pulled me closer. His tongue was just exploring my mouth and I attempted to make him stop by trying to close my mouth. It didn't work.

Finally, thankfully, I felt his arms let me go and his mouth being yanked away from mine. I spit onto the floor in disgust. That was the most disgusting thing that had ever happened to me.

I ran to a trash can quickly, ignoring the fact that I would have to wait in that line all over again. I spit as much as I could in there and closed my eyes as I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and rubbed it on my skirt.

I felt awful! I hadn't been treated like that since middle school, before I started my gang and Zaku was constantly molesting me while I tried to push him off me and then I'd beat the shit out of him later.

It was disgusting, to have the taste of his tongue and his saliva in my mouth. It was just plain nasty to have to go through that again. I hated it! The way he just forced himself on me was disgusting. I hated every fiber of his being, I just hated it! That damn Zaku always had to put a fucking move on me and it never ended well!

I hated being forced against my own will to do something I didn't want to do.

I felt someone's presence behind me and saw Neji staring at me, a worried expression on his face. I turned my head away and spit into the trash can again. He took a step to stand next to me.

I kept looking at the trash and debris in the garbage can. I could hear him breathing somewhat unevenly, like he was about to say something but couldn't. "Just spit it out already." I said as I spit into the trash can again.

He sighed. I glanced at him and saw him staring at me with worry still in his eyes. I looked back at the trash can. "Did you see...?" He nodded slowly before saying. "Everyone saw…" I swallowed the lump in my throat and blinked back the tears in my eyes, trying my best to keep them out of my voice. "I…should've guessed."

I wasn't hungry anymore, knowing that the entire cafeteria had seen that. I stood up straight, turned around, and ran away from them all. All of them stared at me as I ran out of the cafeteria. I ignored them completely and just ran.

I pushed the damn doors out of the way and kept running until I was at least three hallways down from the cafeteria. I heard footsteps running frantically through the second hallway and turning the corner. I didn't care, I slid down the front of the locker and curled up into the up-right fetal position and started to cry, not trying to hold the tears back this time.

I cried into my hands, which were resting palms up in my knees, which were drawn up to my chest. That damn Zaku! As if I didn't have enough to worry about!

"FUCKING BASTARD!" I screamed out. The person with me in the hallway hesitated before walking up to and plopping down next to me.

I big, firm, warm hand was placed on my shoulder. It had to be a man's. I looked up to see Neji sitting there. He was trying to comfort me?

I turned my head and cried into my hands again. I felt him rub my back soothingly. I fucking hated this damn school! If it weren't for that fucking plan, I'd still be in Suna with my other friends.

I cried harder, but just as silently. Occasionally a sob would break my silence and come out in a strained whisper.

Neji was there the entire time. He eventually got tired of rubbing my back and just hugged me, which made me cry harder. Even after the way I'd yelled at him that morning, he was comforting me.

I felt guilty all of a sudden, for being such a bitch.

My voice was strained as I choked out hoarsely the words, "I'm so sorry Neji." I knew he was shocked but in a good kind of way. He just hugged me tighter and sighed. "Don't worry about it." I cried harder.

Damn that Zaku! He messed up every day of my life in middle school and now that I'd just come back from Suna, he'd fucked me up again.

I heard more footsteps coming into the hallway and heard Sakura's high voice mixed in with Hinata's.

"Um…Tenten…?" I ignored her and kept crying. She knelt down in front of me and Hinata to my right. Hinata put her hand on my shoulder and Sakura on my head. I felt Neji let go of me and settle for putting his arm over my shoulder.

I bit my lip and then stopped when I remembered that Zaku's had been there too, that his tongue had run over them. I let out a frustrated scream. I felt Sakura, Hinata, and Neji tense. I felt both girls slowly get up and walk back to the cafeteria.

Hinata warned Neji. She knew what was coming. "Neji-nii-san…leave Tenten for now, please…she's…not exactly in her most cheerful mood right now." I heard Neji retort under his breath. "Obviously."

I clenched my fists and ground my teeth together. I hated this shit. The entire thing had caused something this big. Karma didn't like me too much. Then fuck karma because I didn't like it that much either.

Neji hugged me again, holding me tighter than before. I hugged him back around the waist and cried into his shirt. He didn't stop me; he just hugged me with one arm and rubbed my back consolingly.

I'd only known him for a day and he was already acting like this toward me. The fact that I needed someone to comfort me right now made me feel weak, like the speech I'd said to Sai and Karin's team was a lie.

Damn it! First day of school and I was already making promises I just couldn't keep, like I had done so many years before.


	4. Plan

**Chapter Four**

**The Plan is set in Motion**

**Tenten**

I groaned as Sakura patched up my hand in bandages. This was the second time in two days that she had to wrap me up like this.

She'd checked my back and assured me that there were only bruises but they were all the size of football fields.

I sighed as I flipped to another channel on the small TV in the bite-sized living room. The house that we lived in was fairly small but not so small that we all squished into the living room to sleep.

It had two bedrooms, one bigger than the other, a bathroom, a living room with a kitchen separated only by a chestnut counter.

I looked around the living room and smiled. Ino had designed it herself. Teal walls, shining mahogany floors, black leather couches and a TV perched on a black, random desk at the front of the room, were all a part of her plan to catch the eye of visitors whenever they came.

My eyes still roamed the room as I came across a small table in the far corner with a sleek, silver laptop on top. I quickly walked over and picked it up, walking back to the couch and sitting down. I flipped up the top half and turned it on, watching the TV as I waited for it to load.

As soon as I heard the small 'beep' come from it I looked back down and clicked on the internet. Nothing loaded and I groaned.

I moved the curser over to the 'my computer' shit and click twice and scanned the list of computers with Wi-Fi in the region. I sighed; they all had them on private. Here was something I thought I'd never have to do.

I clicked on one of the names on the list and began typing around, trying to find a loophole to their private internet. I got through to the documents stored on their computer and searched through all of them in an attempt to try and find something that might prove to be useful and help me hack into their system.

I sighed not finding anything in the current file and went to the next one. I opened it and sighed as I went through it. There was nothing important there either. I groaned as I exited out of the document and something in the file caught my eyes. The first letter of each document was capitalized and everything else was minimized.

I frowned and tried typing in the letters as they appeared.

**AADMR**

I clicked on the enter button and nothing happened, it didn't load so I tried again.

**AARMD**

Still nothing.

**MARAD**

Nothing…

**DAARM**

And again there was nothing. I sighed. _Think, Tenten, think! You can do this! Think…what can you spell with AADMR?_ I snapped my eyes open as it hit me and quickly typed the word across the keyboard before I could forget.

**DRAMA**

I pressed enter and gave a silent cheer as the internet opened up and loaded. I navigated away from the yahoo homepage and to gamepost instead. I got bored so I played any random games in an attempt to get rid of my boredom.

I heard someone enter the room but didn't look up at them until they plopped down next to me. I could see Ino from the corner of my eye but I didn't turn to look at her. I felt her shift her weight to lean on my shoulder and watch me while I played. I rolled my eyes and she giggled a bit before leaning back to watch TV.

It was silent for a bit as she searched the channels. I was silently playing Rollercoaster Creator on the computer to really listen to the TV. A loud growl rippled through the room. I turned my head in surprise at Ino. She was glaring daggers at the TV.

I blinked as I stared at her. "What's wrong Ino?" She pointed to the TV. I blinked in confusion and looked at it, understanding almost immediately what she was growling about. On the TV a house was shown burning and tons of people screaming and jumping out of the windows in an attempt to escape the fire. The choice few that wanted to wait had no chance of survival now.

The building collapsed on them all, their piercing screams being the last thing that I heard before the camera flashed to the news reporter. I gulped and then let out my own loud growl. So it had already begun? They'd already recruited their leader?

Sakura, Hinata, and Temari all entered the room with confused looks. "Ten-chan, Ino-chan, ano…what's wrong?" I heard Hinata's nearly inaudible question and I didn't hesitate to answer her. "They've already started…It's begun." I turned to see their expressions.

Hinata looked close to tears, her eyes getting wetter by the minute and her hands pulled up to her chin.

Sakura was growling lowly, muttering to her self as she clenched her fists. The static from her body was making her hair spike up a bit.

Temari was pulling her fan from her back and opening it. I closed the laptop and threw it off to the side, not caring about it all together. This was way more important. Ino was looking murderous.

I pulled her by her bangs to the other girls. I calmed myself a bit. Temari was opening and closing her fan in anticipation. "Well Tenten, what the hell do we do? I say we attack!" I shook my head slowly. She glared at me. I shrugged it off. "Temari, we can't do anything right now. Akuri Kaze has no idea yet about the plan. If we jump into battle without them properly prepared or without them at all, they'll die and so shall we."

She gripped her fan tightly with both hands and glared at me, sharper than before. She was roaring out her words now. "Tenten, people are already dying! By the time we get Akuri Kaze into top shape, it'll be too late! Tenten, we have to-!" I cut her off. "Better safe then sorry." She growled. "Then let's go save those people and be sorry about what happens later. How about that?"

I shook my head and Hinata joined me. "Ten-chan is right. We must train them first. It'll give us the benefit of the doubt and less of a risk for loss of life." Kami-sama thank the Heavens for me for having Hinata here.

Temari opened her mouth to retort but I held up a hand to silence her. She quieted without retort although somewhat grudgingly. The good thing about Temari: she knows when to give up and when to keep going.

Sakura let out a long sigh. "Well, what do we do?" I put a finger to my chin. "Well…we tell Akuri Kaze tomorrow and then start to train them."

She nodded slowly. Ino pushed my hand away from her bangs and walked to join the girls in front of me. She looked slightly worried. "Ino…what's wrong?"

She closed her eyes as she sighed. I blinked in confusion. "Tenten…girls…there's something I've been hiding because…you know…it's just…really personal." I nodded and Sakura 'mm, hmed' for her to go on. She did. "It's just that…I know I sound crazy but sometimes when you learn the ways of an exorcist or priestess, you gain the ability to see the future…I just so happened to see it and…the outcome is not too good."

I was shocked at both the fact that she was psychic and at the fact that she said it would not end well. "Ino, how accurate are your predictions." She looked up at me sadly. "As accurate as your aim, Tenten." I gulped. Then this would be serious. Temari, Hinata, and Sakura were all still in shock.

Sakura broke out of her reverie and spoke out in a hoarse whisper. "Ino, what exactly did you see?" Ino scratched the back of her neck. "Well, I saw…Tenten was stabbed everywhere but she was still fighting and Hinata…" She gulped and bit her lip. "Hinata was…between earth and heaven. Temari was in a bloody heap on top of her fan, struggling to breathe. Sakura…you were trying to heal us but you had a huge slash going down your abdomen, another on your back and a huge cut on your arm. And me…I was watching you all through a clouded, half-dead mind and bloody eyes.

"The chance that we'll get out of that predicament…is close to nothing."

The girls and I gulped loudly but pressed her forward. "Is there anything else Ino?" She nodded slowly. "Well…" She bit her lip.

"I'd rather not say." I frowned. "Ino…tell us…we need to know." She sighed. "Alright, fine I'll tell! I saw Sasuke…leaving his gang…to go to Orochimaru and…Sakura tried to stop him and…" She bit her lip again. I pressed her on. "And what happened?"

She smiled sadly a bit. "Sakura said she loved him and he went rigid and stuff…and then she closed her eyes for a minute and he just walked behind her and knocked her out…he put her on a bench and just left her there."

My eye twitched a bit and Sakura was looking at the floor. I then laughed a bit and Temari joined in. Ino growled. "So you find all this funny?" I shook my head and talked between laughs. "No, it's not that. It's just, Sakura confessing her love to someone or Sakura being nice enough to love is a fucking crazy ass idea!"

Everything went white for a bit as a huge pain swelled in my head. I yelled out in pain and fell to my knees clutching my head. Everything turned red, and then green and then back to normal. I looked up and saw Sakura standing in front of me with a hand clenched into a fist by her side.

I groaned. "Gee Saki; you have no sense of humor now do you?" She smirked evilly. "Well gee I thought that was pretty funny the way you just fell onto the floor like that looking all crippled and stuff."

I rolled my eyes. "You know you're the one that supposed to heal the people in this gang and the other not be the reason for their injuries in the first place." She glared down at me and I put my hands up in mock surrender.

"Alright, alright, I give up. Just don't kill me woman."

She smiled mockingly and pretended to dust off her hands. I rolled my eyes again and stood up, feeling a bit woozy from her blow. Hinata helped me regain balance when I threatened to fall again.

I sighed. "So…are we all clear on the goal for tomorrow? Tell Akuri Kaze about the plan and commence training them." They all nodded. I smirked a bit in spite of everything. Sakura raised a pink eyebrow. "Tenten, why are you smirking?" I turned to her and said, with a smirk, "I'm thinking that we can defy Ino's prediction. We can and will beat Sai, Zaku, Karin and them and come out badly injured and battered, but alive."

Ino sighed and crossed her arms. "It's an impossibility." I shook my head. "Not if we don't want it to be." I grinned toothily at her. She sighed, obviously thinking of something to say. I held up a hand to her. "Ino, calm down, you say your visions are accurate but that's before you told us. We can prevent them from happening if we know what's gonna happen." She groaned in response, pursing her lips.

She then turned around and walked out of the living room and into her bedroom. I sighed and turned to the rest of the girls. "We're gonna need a lot of sleep tonight if we're gonna be training those guys so by nine, be in bed and try to sleep because not only do we have to deal with school and all those other gangs but we also need to be prepared since we've seen their limits." They nodded and walked back to do their own thing, although not exactly the same, they seemed shaken.

I sighed and went back to the computer. I smirked a bit. Konoha just got a lot more interesting…

----

I groaned as I walked into the school. Temari had gone OD on her driving again. I dragged my feet to homeroom tiredly and half asleep. Why half asleep, you ask? Well I had a terrible dream last night that Ino's prediction had been right and that I was killed in battle with Sai and his comrades laughing over me and the others like the sick twisted maniacs that they were.

I groaned and sat in my seat, setting my books on the desk and letting my head go down with them too, closing my eyes and letting them rest from the strain of keeping them open. Someone tapped me on the shoulder. I looked up and saw Lee. He seemed worried. "Tenten-chan, what's wrong?" I blinked and looked up at him slowly.

"I'm tired…" Was all I said before I banged my head against the desk, face first and let out a muffled 'ow' before closing my eyes and trying to sleep. Someone tapped me on the shoulder again. I groaned and looked up to see Lee again. "What is it Lee?"

He gulped nervously and I immediately jumped into suspicion mode. "Well…Tenten-chan…it's just that…come with me!" He grabbed me by the hand and pulled me behind him, leaving our books on our desks and dragging me out of the room in a pace that I didn't even know was possible.

He pulled me out the back of the school and into the parking lot, pointing to the wall where someone had written something in bold, black paint.

I growled lowly as I read this and I heard other growls behind me. I turned and saw the other girls there. So Uzumaki, Uchiha, Nara, and Inuzuka had dragged them all here too? I turned to them. "You do realize what this means, right?" They all stood in a straight line, looking back at me with determined faces, nodding. "Yup."

I punched my injured palm absentmindedly and then clamped my lips shut when I felt the aftershock of pain. I felt the tears in my eyes and I heard Lee snicker behind me, with another deep, velvety voice. Neji? I didn't care. I just let out my scream like a good little girl.

"HOLY SHIT THAT'S ONE FUCKED UP TWIST OF INJURED FATE! WHY THE HELL DID I DO THAT?! DAMN IT THAT SHIT HURT LIKE FUCKING HELL I HATE THIS SHIT! OH MY FUCKING SON OF A BITCH SAKURA YOU PINK-HAIRED ASSHOLE, YOU DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER REMINDING ME AND NOW YOU'RE LAUGHING AND NOW YOU'RE GLARING AT ME. DAMN IT INO YOU BLOND-HAIRED AIR-HEAD WITH THE FRIGGIN BLIND-ASS PUPILESS BLUE EYES YOU DIDN'T REMIND ME EITHER! TEMARI YOU FUCKING PUFFY-HAIRED, TEA-EYED BITCH! YOU DIDN'T HAVE THE BALLS TO SAY SHIT TO ME?"

I felt someone grab me by the collar and I heard Temari yell back. "I DIDN'T HAVE THE BALLS TO SAY ANYTHING CUZ I'M A FUCKING GIRL IN CASE YOU DIDN'T NOTICE?" I stopped my angry ranting and thought of a comeback, while my hand pulsated painfully.

And then…

"WELL DAMN IT THEN YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO BOOBS!" She dropped my collar and when back to her place in line, smirking a bit. I continued on my angry, pained rant. "AND YOU, HINATA! YOU FREAKING PRETTY, INDIGO-HAIRED, PALE-LAVENDER-EYED GENIUS! I…" I froze and put my non-injured hand to my chin.

"I HAVE NOTHING TO SAY TO YOU BECAUSE YOU'RE TOO INNOCENT…so uh…CONSIDER YOURSELF LUCKY!" She giggled cutely and saluted me like a soldier jokingly saying, "Yes ma'am!" I laughed as she giggled along with the other girls.

I felt the guys staring at us. I continued, using my injured hand to punch my uninjured hand. "Anyway, like I was saying, this means, it's begun. The only way to stop it is to fight back. This is what we came back to this crime-infested, dump of a town. So be prepared aight?" They all nodded in understanding. I put both hands by my sides and nodded to them. "Go back to class before the teacher gives your sorry asses detention. You know what begins today." They all nodded and walked back.

I turned to Akuri Kaze, who was gathered completely now, all of them there. "As for you, sit with us at lunch, we have something to discuss and it is of great importance. My gang and I came back to this city for a reason, we're here to help. Get your asses to lunch early and don't stay in the caf after you get your lunch, come to room 1604G in hallway seven." They all looked at each other uneasily.

I sighed and put a hand on my hip, sticking it out. "Just do it if you want Konoha to live." That got to them and they all nodded. I grinned big and grabbed Neji and Lee's hands, pulling them both to homeroom behind me and looking back at what was painted on the brick again.

_**You put this upon yourself, back out or be killed. You have been warned…**_

----

I was tapping my fingers on the teacher's desk in one of the many abandoned rooms in this fucked up school, waiting for the boys.

Sakura was eating her lunch absentmindedly while scribbling down some notes as she read from her medical skills book. Hinata was eating her lunch while just staring straight at nothing but managing to look like an adorable Barbie doll all the while. Ino was measuring the proportions of her food (which made me roll my eyes I mean seriously, she's not overweight or underweight for that matter). Temari was taking bites of her food every now and then while she polished the outer part of her fan with a rag that she always brought along.

I sighed as I tapped my fingers on the desk impatiently. You'd think that a Hyuga, an Uchiha, and a Rock (hee hee, rock!) would make it on time but noooooo! They just had to take forever. My patience was running low.

I grumbled moodily as I increased the pressure I put into tapping my fingers against the desk. Damn that Hyuga! He was gonna pay for making me wait.

When I start training today, I'm gonna pick him as a sparring partner and fucking beat him _**SENSELESS!**_ That's right, _**SENSELESS**_with all capitals, bold, underlined, and fucking italicized!

I closed my eyes and heaved a sigh, ceasing my tapping and laying my head on the desk. I got out of the chair behind the desk and sat on the desk itself instead. I picked up the apple I had on the tray behind me, the only thing I'd brought from lunch other than a water bottle, and took a loud bite.

Sakura told me that unless I wanted nausea (and I absolutely hated nausea) then I had to eat small meals due to the amount of blood loss that I had in the past two days. I had tried to retort to that ("But then I'm gonna be hungry!") but she had snapped back at me ("And you're gonna be even hungrier if you throw it all up later!") so I just settled for little meals.

I sighed softly again, closing my eyes as I chewed the apple. I was trying to find my happy place and trying to get away from my anger. That and trying to get some sleep in. I pushed the tray out of my way and curled up on the desk, looking at the blackboard behind it, trying to sleep.

I groaned somewhat loudly when I heard someone enter the room and call my name in a deep, emotionless, insensitive voice. "Uh…Tenten, we're here." I turned to my other side and sat up, rubbing my eyes, which were clouding due to the blood coming down from my head and flowing freely again. "Oh now you guys choose to show up! You're late for the designated meeting of great importance to the survival of Konoha and all people in it but you aren't late to disrupt my few minutes of sleep seeing as I only got two hours last night!"

Sasuke and Neji snickered in amusement and Naruto just laughed along with Kiba. Lee was sending me an apologetic look. I smiled at him and got up from my seat on the desk.

I slammed my palm down, ignore the small shock of pain it sent through my arm, and put my other hand on my hip. "So, first thing's first. The plan's already begun and you guys need to know about it…"

They all gave me a weird look. I sighed and crossed my arms over my chest. "Four years ago, Sai and his team, along with the team of Karin and Ami, and not to mention _Zaku_," I said his name with some serious venom, "formed a huge alliance and made a plan. They think that with this plan they'll be able to take over Konoha or at least be feared by all of the other gangs. You guys with me so far?" They all nodded. I nodded back and continued. "They figured that in order to do that, they would need someone far more powerful to help them."

They all nodded again and I pressed forward.

"So those traitors of their own homeland went and can you guess who they got?" They all shook their heads. I clenched my teeth a bit and spit out the word. "Orochimaru…" For a minute, all of their faces went blank and they went into a state of shock and horror. I sighed.

Neji spoke first. "So…what you're saying is that they're bringing Orochimaru into this to try and fuck up Konoha, right?" He said it calmly, like he'd never been shocked to begin with.

I nodded. "Yes, exactly. The only problem now is, and they don't know this, the girls and I infiltrated one of his hide-outs and Hinata and I cracked a code and looked into his computer files. Heh, heh…not bad for sixth and seventh graders, huh, seeing as we shot down every guard that got in our way and managed to escape with some cuts and bruises…any way. What we found in those files was fucking crazy. Not only does Orochimaru plan to threaten all human life forms in Konoha, he's planning on tyranny."

I paused for a minute, and when they didn't comment I continued.

"So he's not only planning on making everyone in Konoha cower under him, he's planning up making everyone in _Japan_ cower under him and Sai, Karin, and Zaku fail to realize the mess that they've gotten us into. They think that with this, they'll be respected."

Sasuke snorted. "And they actually expect us to respect like everyone else will?" I shook my head.

"No, of course not. That was one of their goals, to destroy Akuri Kaze. Karin was completely against it so they decided that injuring you to a point where you'd be scarred for life was good enough." Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "And what would that bring them."

I unfolded my arms and put a hand on the desk, tapping my fingers against them. I raised my own brow. "Karin obviously thought that her way of intimidating people would get you to like her." He choked as he breathed deeply and I chuckled a bit. I turned to Neji and Naruto. "As for you two…Ami thought she would catch your attention," I said, pointing to Neji. "Sai thought that his power would make you stand down. And as for you Naruto…well we all know that you're a jubilant little guy who wouldn't hesitate to fight for something you believed in. They thought that by doing this, you'd get scared and back down."

He stepped forward with a wide smirk on his face that could easily rival that of Uchiha and Hyuga. He pointed at himself. "Well guess what? I never give up and I never go back on my word because that's my way of life!" I smiled at him a bit and from the corner of my eye saw Hinata blush and look away.

I would need to use that later…

Ahem but for now…

I continued. "Anyway…we don't want to force you…so I'm asking you, all of you. Would you help us fight against Orochimaru?" I waited anxiously. Anxiously because if they said no…there'd be a smaller chance of winning.

They all stared at me and then Naruto stepped forward. "Fine, I'll do it, even if they won't!" I smiled at him. He was brave, for sure.

I looked back at them hopefully for a few minutes. They all looked lost in thought, deep thought by the looks of it. I sighed and stood up straight. "Alright then, if you don't want to, we're not forcing you. Naruto…thanks." Shikamaru held up a hand. "We haven't answered yet." He said simply. I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Well, I just assumed that since you were quiet for so long that you didn't want to help so…I just…you know…" He sighed and let out a 'troublesome'. I tapped my finger against my arm impatiently. "Well then answer dammit! You know it's not good to keep a girl waiting." Neji snickered a bit.

I sent him a look as he said, "Well with the way that you act it's like we're talking to a man anyway." I narrowed my eyes at him. "Hyuga now's not the time for games. Orochimaru is threatening to take over Japan and you're sitting here cracking jokes. Nice Hyuga, nice. It's just what you'd expect from someone as cold-hearted and bastard-ish as you are."

He rolled his eyes and I rolled mine as well. "So are you gonna answer or not?" He nodded. "We'll do it…although I don't think we stand a chance." I smiled a bit. "Ever heard of training? Our gang is gonna train you guys." He nodded slightly. "Aa." I smiled wider.

"So we fight, all of us." He smirked a bit. "Yeah…" I walked over to them until I was face to chest with Neji. I looked up at him. He looked down at me with an eyebrow raised. I punched him lightly in the stomach, smirking a bit, and keeping my fist there. He kept his eyebrow raised. "Prepare your abdominals cuz this is not even an eighth of how bad it gets." I fisted him a little harder and I saw his smirk widen. "Just because I'm not hurting you now don't mean I won't hurt you during training. Same goes to all of you." I said, looking around Neji at all of them.

They all nodded and I backed up a bit. I crossed my arms across my chest again. "We won't go easy on you guys." They nodded slowly. I uncrossed my arms and walked over to the girls, slamming my hands down on Temari's desk, earning on myself a "What the fuck Tenten?" I smirked a bit. "Alrighty then, Sakura, you train Sasuke and when needed, Naruto. Hinata, you're the one that trains the blond most of the time, got it?" They both nodded. I continued.

"Temari, you train Shikamaru and Ino, you train Kiba. I'll train Neji and Lee…" They all nodded. I turned to the guys. "Your training begins today, after school. From three to five, we'll train you, everyday unless we cancel. You got that?" They all nodded slightly and I grinned. "Okay, so now that that's settled, let's get on with it!"

They all blinked and stared at me. I rolled my eyes. "You know, for being a pretty good team, you're not too smart, are you?" Shikamaru grunted and I laughed a bit. "What, you're not gonna tell us anything about yourself?" Neji raised an eyebrow. I smiled. "Fine." He said suddenly. "Lee and I are fifteen, the rest are fourteen and we are Akuri Kaze, happy?" I frowned. He smirked.

"No, I mean like…do any of you have something you want to tell us?" Lee nodded and stepped forward. I rolled my eyes and smiled. "Still the energetic one, huh Lee?" He nodded vigorously. I rolled my eyes again. He began to talk. "I'm fifteen years old! I go to a dojo during the weekends and train with Gai-sensei!" I smiled slightly at him. He was the same old weirdo.

Naruto stepped forward too. "Alrighty then, I'm not gonna let bushy brows beat me. I'm fourteen and I…um…uh…? Oh yeah! I like ramen, pork, beef, chicken, you name it! It's just so good! Oh…and…and…and…on weekends, I go to Ichiraku's to eat more ramen. He's got the best ramen in all of Japan!"

I swear, I sweat-dropped at this guy's personal information. If I didn't think he was an idiot before, I did now.

Shikamaru stepped forward and yawned. "I have an IQ of over two hundred and I don't like going anywhere without my laptop…and I like to sleep so if you'll excuse me…" He sauntered over to a desk not too far from where Temari was sitting and laid his head on the hardwood.

Kiba jumped forward, Kiba poking out from his jacket. "I'm fourteen, hot, single, like dogs and girls…" He winked a bit. I rolled my eyes, as did the other girls as he laughed loudly. Naruto laughed with him. "Kiba, my man, you are funny!" Two idiots, one dumber than the other. That's nice…not…

Sasuke stepped forward slowly. "Fine then. I'm fourteen; I hate sweets, like tomatoes and I think Naruto's a dobe…" I laughed at his short and blunt introduction.

Neji took a turn, sighed and stepped forward. "I'm fifteen, a gang leader, and I don't like talking or self introductions so just be happy I even bothered." I blinked a few times and then laughed. He blinked back and stared at me. I smiled widely, standing straight as a board and floppy as paper. "And yet you still talked more than Sasuke!"

The girls laughed a little too. He rolled his eyes. "Because, unlike him, I'm actually polite." Sasuke retorted back. "Oh really? Then how come you scarred Tenten so bad that she went unconscious?" He smirked a bit. "I said I was polite, I never said I was a gentleman." I frowned and joined in. "How the hell are you polite if you left me with scars everywhere?"

He smirked back at me now. "If I wasn't polite, I would've killed you." I narrowed my eyes. "You nearly did! I was cut up so badly and I lost so much blood that I passed out a quarter of the way home and I woke up to the pink bitch pouring lead on my arm!" He snorted with laughter as Sakura pounded her fist onto my head (which I sent her a death glare for).

I fell to my knees, clutching my head as I had dejavú of last night. I looked up at her, my eyes watering from the pain. She was smirking down at me with one hand on her hip and the other curled into a fist by her face. I glared at her. "Saki! You fucking dumb bitch I should stab your ass with a kunai!" She smiled at me innocently. "But what did I do?"

I groaned and removed my hands from my head, letting them flop to my sides. "You abused my head. I think I just lost five IQ points and about another thousand brain cells." She giggled a bit. "Awe, panda-chan, you're so funny." I ground my teeth together. I removed my knife from the strap on my thigh and got up in a heartbeat. I was behind her in an instant, with the knife pressed to her neck.

"What did you call me?" She laughed a bit, already used to me. "I called you panda-chan." She said as she elbowed me in the stomach. I doubled over in pain. "Damn it Sakura!"

I threw the knife behind me, which nearly stabbed Temari in the eye, and punched Sakura on her head. She doubled over herself, clutching her own head in pain. "SEE HOW MUCH YOU LIKE IT YOU DUMB BILLBOARD BROW!" I roared.

And just like that all hell broke loose. She rose her head slowly and sent me a look that made her eyes glint evilly. I squared myself, getting ready. She took a quick step forward before Sasuke pulled her back as Neji did to me.

Sakura was thrashing against him and he was having a hard time keeping her under control. "DAMN IT SASUKE! LET ME GO! I WANNA KILL TENTEN!" I screamed back at her.

"SASUKE LET HER GO! I WANT HER TO TRY. WE'LL SEE WHO WINS; BILLBOARD BROW WITH THE INHUMAN STRENGTH OR THE WEAPONS MISTRESS WITH THE DEADLY ACCURACY!" I felt Neji snicker from behind me.

I elbowed him lightly in the stomach. He ran out of air for a minute and I smirked a bit to myself. He knocked me on the head calmly. I screamed out in frustration. "DAMMIT DOES EVERYONE LIKE TO MAKE ME GO DUMB, DUMB?!" I put a hand over my mouth as Sakura laughed and shouted, "GO NEJI!" I groaned and slipped out of Neji arms, which had moved to my waist to restrain me more, and walked back to the teacher's desk.

I threw my body on the desk and just lay flat, with my shoulders, arms, and everything above hanging off the side that was facing them. "So, anyway. Now that the beast is under control, who wants to talk about Ino's vision?"

They all went stiff and stared at me. I raised…uh…lowered…uh…raised an eyebrow while my head was up-side-down…OH WELL I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY TO EXPLAIN THAT ONE! Ahem…anyway.

"What? I mean, she was an exorcist, what do you expect?" They all turned back to look at Ino and she blinked as she stared at them all.

**Ino**

I laughed nervously and scratched the back of my neck. I gulped and they all just kept staring at me.

I breathed in deeply and let it all out slowly. I closed my eyes for a minute and opened them again to look at them all dead on to explain it.

"Like I said to the girls last night, sometimes when you are trained in the exorcist ways of the Yamanaka clan, you have the ability to see into the future. Although most of the times, it's bad. On very rare occasions do you see something good. Shikamaru should know about that, right?"

He nodded and I smiled at him before continuing.

"Anyway, I had a vision a few days ago of…all of us…fighting. I know this'll bring you down but…it'll help us all become more motivated to train. You see, I saw all of us either down and hurt badly, or dead. Tenten and Neji were taking on Orochimaru and from what I saw from my half-lidded eyes was that…they were losing."

They all narrowed their eyes. I sighed and closed mine again. "And that's not it. I had a vision…of Sasuke betraying us and going to join Orochimaru for power and Sakura tried to stop him and…Sakura said she loved him and he just knocked her out and left her on a bench in the middle of the park."

Sakura set her eyes downcast, and Sasuke gave me a hard glare that I ignored. I, my self, looked down.

An image flashed across my mind. I hid my face in my hands and groaned loudly. I felt their eyes on me and didn't care. I was trying to decipher the vision.

_I was running through the forest with Sakura and Temari. Naruto was running next to us with a few scratches and maybe a broken wrist. Sakura was carrying a pudgy boy with swirl tattoos on his cheeks and his eyes were closed tightly. I recognized him almost immediately as Chouji, a kid in my class back in middle school and I gulped. I could tell he was clinging to life. It was obvious._

_I felt something hot and warm running down my back. I dared to look. Blood. Neji, on my back. His hair down and framing both of our faces, his eyes closed. He had a large scratch on his cheek and what seemed to be a hole in his shoulder. A hole in his shoulder?_

_I looked over at Naruto, who I now noticed, was running alongside Lee, Shikamaru, and Temari's two older brothers, Gaara, and Kankurou. Shikamaru's finger was twisted oddly. I noticed someone on Kankurou's back and saw Kiba, his torso covered in blood and only in a fishnet shirt._

_I bit my lip and blinked back tears and kept running with them. We got to a clearing with immense light. I winced at how bright it was, and kept running until I was running right through it with the rest._

I sucked in a sharp breath of air and looked up at everyone else. They all gave me concerned gazes. "Ino, what's wrong?" Sakura was the first one to ask. Ah, Sakura…always the one to jump into things when someone seemed hurt.

I shook my head. "Nothing! I'm fine." I straightened up and smiled. "I was just trying to see how long I could hold my breath." She didn't seemed too convinced. "Really, cuz I heard labored breathing?" I sighed and replied. "Look, that's because the first time went wrong so I had to breathe and my second try was terrible so I had to breathe, and my third time went so ballistic that I just had to breathe like I just did."

I breathed deeply. "Look, I'm fine, alright? Just drop it!" She sent me a hard glare. I gulped and laughed falsely, pretending to be amused. She just turned her head away, as did all the rest, and began talking to Tenten.

I sighed in relief. That was close.

**Sakura**

I wasn't convinced. Not at all. She expects me to believe that she was holding her breath for that little time when she's been able to go under water for about three minutes without air?

She was lying. She saw something and she just didn't want to tell.

I was barely paying attention to Tenten. I was just thinking. Why would Ino see something and not tell us? If it was something really bad, wouldn't she have told us?

Ugh, damn this chick is aggravating as hell.

I groaned audibly and felt a pain surge through my gut and throughout my body. I clutched my stomach and stared at Tenten, who smirked, with her fist in front of her face. Now where did I see that before?

She had punched me and was now frowning instead of smirking. "Look, I know training the stubborn, cold-hearted bastard wannabe is gonna be hard, but Sasuke's got a lot of work to do and plus, we need him alive for the fight so I repeat myself; don't use all your strength on him." I smirked up at her and punched her across the face with a little more power than necessary. What? She asked for it.

She turned her head back slowly and looked down at me.

"What? You said to not use it on him, you never told me to restrain myself from using my strength on you?" She groaned and went behind Temari to pick up her knife.

I smirked at her and picked up some black wraps from my book-bag. I quickly wrapped them around my hands, like I'd been taught in my classes and smirked at her. She held her knife firm in her hands, probably calculating something.

She then threw it at me. I smirked and side-flipped to my left to avoid it. Half-way through, while I was still on my hands, she threw a second one from her other thigh. "Shit!" I had no choice but to open my legs to dodge it. Luck just wasn't with me right now.

My skirt went down and my panties showed. I eeped and landed quickly. I pulled my skirt back down and straightened it again, my face beet red.

I heard the girls laughing and I looked up to see Naruto with a nosebleed and Sasuke with a smirk on his face.

I growled lowly and sauntered over to Naruto. I punched him on the head…HARD. He collapsed to the floor and I glared down at him. "Pervert!" I yelled down at him. He looked up at me. "S-Sakura-chan! That hurt!" I crossed my arms. "Well then stop being so dumb! I hate it when people are pervs…" I closed my eyes and looked away, sticking my nose up into the air.

I heard Tenten conceal her laughter for a little to yell out, "Yeah, and yet you continue to stare at Uchiha's ass!"

I blushed again. "What? NO! That mother-fucker? A ha-ha no!" She smirked at me. "Sakura, you're blushing." I cursed loudly.

I could hear Ino's laughter and I turned to her.

**Hinata**

Sakura turned to Ino, with her fist clenched. "Wanna start something, ya pig?! I gulped. Oh no. Uh oh.

Ino yelled back at her. "No but it looks like you already did, billboard brow!" Double uh oh. This was not good.

Sakura lifted the sleeve of her uniform until her entire arm was exposed, from the shoulder, down. She flexed her muscles a bit, which bulged dangerously outward. She stomped forward to Ino, who was getting into her Mind Transfer position. Triple uh oh.

"Sakura! Get ready cuz I'm gonna give Inner Sakura something to scream about." I sighed as Sakura raised her fists. "Ino! You better get ready cuz my fists are gonna give your _ass_ something to scream about!"

Sakura continued to stomp toward Ino, who was concentrating. She carefully set her hands out in front of her, pushing her arms forward and she opened her mouth to scream the words that I knew would send Sakura into a frenzy of yelling her most embarrassing secrets while she pounded on Ino's body.

"Mind Transfer Jut-!" Ino was cut off when the bell rang. I sighed in relief. Saved by the bell.

Ino groaned and stood up straight again, complaining. "Dang it! Just when I was on the last syllable!"

I giggled a bit and walked out the door with the rest of the girls.

* * *

_Chapter four!_

Enjoy!

_Thanks to all who read and please review!_


	5. Training

**Chapter Five**

**First Training Session**

**Tenten**

I was walking slowly down the hallway, somewhat dizzy and bored. I'd fallen asleep for a few minutes during Social Studies and woke up to find a meter-stick being smashed onto my head which had left me with both a headache and dreariness that was sure to last a while.

I groaned as yet another person pushed past me roughly, eager to leave school and go home. These people were pissing me off, bumping into me and not even apologizing. That was all that happened as soon as I walked out of the classroom and into the hallway. People had been pushing and shoving, saying words that I wasn't even bothering to hear.

Another person bumped into me and I looked up, annoyed, at a girl with jet-black hair, layered and straightened with piercing aqua green eyes. I glanced at her uniform. It was nothing simple to put it simply.

She had on the usual uniform although hers was folded up to her midriff and her breast line was showing. Her skirt had a slit on the side with lingerie style socks covering her thighs and down. She wore black high heels that had her feet standing almost completely straight.

"You know you could at least apologize for bumping into me!" I said. She turned around and looked at me, her eyes narrowed. She walked back over to me. "And if I don't" She threatened. I frowned and looked up at her as she glared down at me. "You better or I'll shove my knuckles up your nose and my foot up your ass." She kept glaring at me.

"Who says I have to? You don't own me. You can't tell me what to do. You have no right to you are neither in charge of me or my mother so get the fuck outta here with that 'you better' shit or just face my wrath." I dropped my books on the floor, not caring about the loud tHuD that echoed through the large, crowded hallway. "And how much you wanna bet that I'm not afraid to face your wrath?"

I cracked my knuckles as she dropped her book-bag to the floor. "I bet you'll be sorry as a motherfucker as soon as I'm done with you." I growled lowly, stepping closer to her as she did to me. My shoulder was brushing her arm. She was a full head taller than me with her heels on.

She smirked down at me and I glared up at her. "You wanna bang chick?" She shoved her shoulder into my chin and I stepped back, caught off guard. "Yeah, I do." She took a step closer.

"A fair one?" She looked around the hallway and then back at me. "None of my girls are here so yeah, a fair one." I looked off to the side, where my books lay on the floor, nodding my head a bit and then swinging my fist into the side of her head the next minute. She fell to the floor and I smirked.

I sat down on her abdomen and began punching her face as she grabbed my twin buns. As far as I could tell, she wasn't that good. She punched me in the face and I punched her even harder, straining my muscles. I heard her scream loudly as something on her face cracked and blood started spewing everywhere. I couldn't care less.

I punched her a few more times, getting her another time in the eye, before someone pulled me off of her roughly.

I fought against them, and then another person grabbed me.

I fought against all of them and gave up when Temari's familiar voice rang in my ears. "Tenten, calm down, you gave the chick a bloody nose and a black eye. She's crying like a little bitch. Hurry up and calm your ass down, Sakura and Karin are arguing in the back hallway and they're about to fight, or so Hinata tells me."

I shoved her off me and ran to my books, picking them up and running through the hall. I heard Ino calling after me. "Tenten, wait up!" I wasn't going to wait when poor little Hina-chan and Saki-chan were about to face off with Karin.

I ran faster and faster down the hallways, turning left and right and running through specific ones to avoid crowds. I heard Ino and Temari's frantic footsteps behind me.

I made one last turn and on time too because when I got there, I saw Sakura being punched in the gut. I frowned and sped up a little more and punched Karin straight in the jaw, knocking her off her feet using the force from my speed and my fist.

She slid across the floor and hit her head against a locker. I stood up straight and looked at Sakura, who was smirking. "Looks like Hina-chan got back-up. That's good cuz look who's rounding the corner." I turned my head and saw Ami charging straight for me.

I stood ready, with my legs slightly separated and crouching a bit. I dodged her punch and elbowed her in the back. She screamed loudly and caught herself before her face hit the floor. She got up quickly and tried to kick me in the gut.

I quickly dodged it. Karin was up and running again and she wasn't running toward me, she was running toward Sakura. Sakura squared herself, getting in her fighting stance. All I could say was this bitch was about to get ragged.

I smirked to myself as Sakura flipped over Karin and tripped her from behind. Karin rolled over, her face showing obvious fear. I gasped as a girl came up behind Sakura, her eyes coal black and her knee length black hair flowing behind her tied in a ponytail even looser than Neji's.

I ran at the girl, my fist ready to thrust her to the other side of the room. I was just a few steps away when someone crashed into me and knocked me off my feet. I looked up and saw Ami smirking down at me. When had she gotten up?

I groaned in pain as my lungs contracted painfully. I couldn't breathe for a minute. She'd knocked me out of breath. I gasped in air when I was finally able to and stood up straight for a minute, only to see a girl kicking Sakura multiple times in the gut and Ino come and yank her off to fight her herself.

I rolled my eyes back down to Sakura. She was pulling herself up slowly, clutching her side and a little blood coming from her mouth. She smirked a bit and stood up straight, her arms by her sides, and her fists curled and ready to go.

She closed her eyes and cracked her knuckles loudly. She then ran toward Karin, who was slowly getting up, and punched her in the eye and knocked her over with a punch to the cheek. Karin screamed in pain and Sakura smirked cockily. She curled her right fist up, ready for the blow that would send Karin into unconsciousness. She brought it back and with intense speed brought it down onto Karin's abdomen, making her scream, sputter, cough, and close her eyes in unconsciousness.

I was so caught up in Sakura's fight that I hadn't even noticed that Ami was up and running toward me. She kicked me in the stomach and I was sent back onto the ground, falling dead on my ass and crouching over, hugging myself around the waist as my stomach throbbed in pain.

I bit my lip pretty hard and despite the short amount of time, there was still blood in my mouth when I got up. I looked at Ami, who was smirking at me. I growled lowly and ran at her.

She squared herself and got ready as I brought my fist back. I dodged a punch to the eye and got her in her nose. I smirked as she fell backward from the impact. I brought my leg down on her stomach, and she screamed loudly.

I crouched down next to her. "Chick, you shouldn't even try. We can whoop your ass BAD if we want to." I stood up and looked down at her. She was glaring up at me, with a little blood coming from her mouth.

I turned my back on her and walked over to Ino, who'd knocked down her girl and the one with the super long black hair.

I grabbed her by the bangs and pulled her over to the rest of the girls, who were all on the corner of the hallway, waiting for us, with the boys, whom I'd just realized, were there.

Naruto was grinning big and Shikamaru was smirking cockily. I raised a brow. "Um, what?" Naruto jumped up and down with his eyes wide and for a minute, I mistook him for a sugar-high puppy.

He laughed. "You guys beat up Karin's three main girls plus another!" I rolled my eyes. "And what? You should be worried that Sakura doesn't choose to train you on your first day because trust me, she will take her anger out on either you or the trees and since I know you're just gonna be buzzing around, she's most likely gonna use you."

He gulped and backed away. I laughed with Temari and Ino. Hinata giggled. Sakura was…cracking her knuckles…

I smiled a bit as I stood in front of them all. "Alright, let's get our asses down to the forest seeing as that's where I like to train." They all nodded and silently walked after me.

----

I sighed and took in a deep breath as I dropped my book-bag on the floor and inhaled the scent of the huge pine trees and the sweet grass. I dropped my book-bag down and motioned for Lee and Neji to do the same. They did so as well.

I turned to everyone. "Alright, go off to your separate training areas. Neji, Lee, come with me." I grabbed Neji and Lee's wrists and pulled them after me, frowning when Neji grunted out a 'hn' and when Lee cried out about how 'unyouthful' it was to grab a person by the wrists so tightly.

I heard the girls and the other guys, with the exception of Sasuke, laugh at me.

I just shrugged and kept pulling them behind me. After a few meters, Neji pulled on my arm and made me fall back into both him and Lee. Lee caught me with one arm, as Neji caught me with the other. I glared up at Neji. "What the fuck was that for?"

He looked down at me emotionlessly. "That was for pulling on me all the way here. I wanted to see how much you liked it." I frowned and stood up quickly. "Alright fine then, I won't pull you." I turned around and got him smack in the face with my fist. "However, I will punch you when I feel the need." He took a few steps back. I smiled innocently at him.

He glared at me and walked forward a bit. Lee was staring at me with wide eyes. I turned to him. "What?" "You just hit Neji-san. He is going to get mad. He looks like he is going to kill someone." I rolled my eyes. "Hey Lee, can you please use contractions for once?" He smiled at me and asked, "What are contractions? Are they the words where you mix will and not with a little thing…a punctuation mark in between?" I nodded.

He shook his head. "It is unyouthful to say such things." I laughed a bit. "Lee, you're still the same weirdo I met in middle school." He grinned and did a thumbs up. I rolled my eyes.

Neji was next to Lee now. He was holding up a very emotionless-looking façade although behind his mask was a hint of anger.

I inwardly smirked. I made the Hyuga Neji mad. That would make anyone like me happy. I smiled a bit and walked a bit farther out. I turned and faced them. "You guys ready? Attack me with everything you've got." They nodded.

I got into my stance, waiting for them. Lee quickly climbed a tree and hid in the branches. I saw him flipping through them and smirked. The uniform gave them out quickly. I looked around. I didn't see Neji anywhere.

I looked to my left and then to my right. I looked up and saw Neji jumping down toward me, with his hand out. He looked like he was about to get me with his Gentle Fist shit again. I smirked up at him and dodged it quickly.

He landed on his feet easily and looked at me. I ran at him and attempted to kick him. He dodged it and tried to kick me in the head. I blocked it with my arms, and smirked at him again. If this was his best, he was going to need a lot of work.

I heard Lee shout out "Leaf Hurricane!" and flipped over Neji as Lee attempted to kick me. Lee missed Neji by an inch. He'd dodged. I let out a sigh of relief, with my hand on my heart. I got back into my stance, ready to fight.

Neji ran at me this time. He attempted to get me with his technique. I back-bended, twisted, turned and anything else that I could to dodge his attacks. I tried to get him but he blocked every attempt I made. I clenched my teeth together angrily. He was good at defense, that was for sure but he wasn't landing a blow. He needed to be faster if he was going to get me.

And then he smirked, and I knew something was up. I felt someone knock me down. I closed my eyes and braced myself for the impact. I felt a huge pain shoot up my slowly healing back. Looks like those bruises loved to take hold of my back. I opened my eyes again and saw Lee looking down at me, an eager smile on his face.

I slowly stood up and dusted myself off. I smiled at him. "Really good job Lee. As for you Neji, you should try to be a little faster." He smirked and before I could even breathe, he was right in front of me again. I gasped as he hit me dead in the stomach.

He backed up a bit and smirked. I fell to my knees, hugging myself around the waist. A wave of nausea overtook me. It wouldn't go away. I bent over and instead of coughing up food, I coughed up blood. It spilled out of my mouth like a waterfall of red.

I tried to breathe but I couldn't. I kept coughing. I felt someone crouch down next to me. I slowly turned my head after more blood poured out. It was Lee. He looked worried. "Tenten-chan, are you okay?" I smiled as best as I could and nodded slowly before turning my head to cough up more blood. I felt dizzy, which wasn't good. I was still recovering from my first fight with Neji.

The grass was slowly being stained with my blood. The red droplets were hanging off of the grass' ends like dew in the morning. I looked up at Neji. He was no longer smirking and his eyes held some concern, although his face showed no emotion.

I breathed in again and more blood poured out of my mouth. I grunted and groaned as it finally stopped and the metallic taste stained my mouth. I sat up weakly, smiling a bit. I saw Lee looking at me, still worried and Neji was obviously looking at me. I stood up slowly with one arm wrapped around my waist.

I was still smiling, despite the pain. It didn't really matter.

I was breathing heavily, seeing as I'd been deprived of breath for more than a minute or two. I grabbed the knife from the strap on my thigh. It was a good thing I'd remembered to put on shorts under the skirt.

I smiled crookedly, smugly now. I threw the knife at Neji and saw him dodge it with ease. I smirked as I threw another to Lee and he dodged that. The knives embedded themselves in trees.

I walked over and got them both out of the trees. I was still smiling. I turned to them. "Alright, now that I'm done testing the waters, let's get to the real deep shit."

I smirked. This was gonna be hell for them and a lotta fun for me…

**Sakura**

I laughed a bit as I watched Tenten pull Neji and Lee away and then Neji pull on Tenten. Those two together in one room were hilarious.

I smiled a bit and turned around. "Alright Sasuke come with me!" He was completely emotionless. I frowned a bit. "Yo, Sasuke, get your butt over here so I can go train you!" He remained emotionless. I huffed and stamped my foot on the grass, still making a loud thumping sound that shook Naruto. "Damn it Sasuke, come here before I get Ino to make you!" He was still emotionless.

I huffed loudly and yelled at him. "DAMMIT YOU FUCKING COLD-HEARTED CHICKEN-ASS-HAIRED BASTARD YOU BEST GET YOUR MOTHERFUCKING ASS OVER HERE SO THAT I CAN TRAIN YOU BEFORE I FORCE YOU SORRY UCHIHA ASS TO!" He 'hn'ed and walked over to where I was, his hands in his uniform pockets.

I huffed impatiently again and just grabbed his arm and yanked him behind me.

SHOWS HIM WHO'S BOSS! CHA!

Ahem…but anyway. I pulled him over to a section far off from where the others were standing. I turned to him, dropping his hand and holding up my own. He raised an eyebrow. I ran behind a tree and reached into my book-bag. I pulled out a pair of black leggings that reached up to mid thigh, but were a little longer than the skirt. I pulled them on quickly and closed my book-bag up before coming out from behind the tree.

Sasuke still had an eyebrow raised. I blushed a bit. "Just so what happened earlier today doesn't happen again." He mouthed an 'oh' before smirking which made me blush again. Damn Uchiha…

I got into my stance. He was standing straight. I smiled at him. "Hit me with everything you've got Sasuke. I wanna see what you can do." He snickered a bit and I raised a brow. "What?" He just laughed. I stood up straight now in pure confusion.

"What's so funny?" He laughed a little louder and then calmed down enough to say, "That sounded utterly wrong." I blinked, still confused. "How can that sound wrong?" He laughed a little more. "How innocent can you be?"

I frowned. He smirked cockily. "Hit me with all you've got? I wanna see what you can do. Doesn't that sound at least a little wrong to you?" I blinked and something in my brain clicked. I finally got the double meaning of my words.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEUWWWWWWW! SASUKE-TEME YOU DIRTY MAN-WHORE!" His eye twitched a bit. I got back into my stance. "Well just shut up and hit me." He smirked again and I rolled my eyes.

He charged forward and swung his leg to kick me. I ducked to dodge it. It was still able to reach my head so I put up my arms and blocked it successfully. He smirked and flipped over so that he had his leg above my head, so that he could barrage me.

I rolled backward, dodging it. I wasn't as flexible as Tenten or Ino, but I was good myself.

I rolled backward again into a standing position, back into my fighting stance. I smirked at him. "Nothing yet. If that's the best you can do, then you'll need a lot of work." He came at me again.

I brought my fist back and got him in the gut, punching him upward a bit and then punching him hard enough to keep him going against gravity. He was coughing, as if he was trying to breathe and I was still punching him.

And then, out of nowhere, he flipped back in mid-air and landed on his feet in a crouched position with his hand to steady himself. He stood up all of a sudden and copied my exact move. He punched me in the gut, going upward a bit. And the worst part was, I couldn't hunch over to keep it from hurting that much because he was still mimicking me and punching the shit out of me.

I felt his fists pound into me. He couldn't copy my strength, that was for sure but damn he packed a punch. I put my foot on his chest and flipped off of him carefully, in an attempt to get away, my skirt ripping on the side a bit in the process.

I landed on my feet and back into my fighting position and breathing heavily, some blood coming from my mouth. I looked at him. He had blood coming from his mouth too.

I stood up as straight as I could without straining myself. I smirked at him. Tenten had told us to test the waters and see what they could do, so I'd done just that.

"Alright Uchiha, based on what I just saw, I'm gonna take a guess and say that your family had a sharp eye and were able to copy techniques after seeing them only once because of a sharp mind as well." He smirked a bit and nodded. "And I'm gonna make an assumption and say that you're pretty smart yourself seeing as you were able to figure that out."

I turned my head away in embarrassment. I saw his smirk widen from the corner of my eye. I turned my back on him and looked over my shoulders. "Alright, now let's get down to the nitty-gritty."

He grinned evilly, a type of smile that a rapist would wear, a horny type smile. I glared at him. "DAMMIT UCHIHA YOU FUCKING NEGATIVE THINKER!"

He laughed…

**Hinata**

I giggled a bit as Sakura pulled Sasuke behind her. They were both stubborn and funny. I smiled as they walked away, deeper into the forest.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned and saw Naruto grinning widely, his cerulean blue eyes shining as the light hit them. He looked…cute. He leaned in a bit and I blushed from the proximity. "Hinata-chan, shouldn't we go train too?"

I gulped and nodded slowly before letting out a barely audible 'Follow me' and walking down my own path into the forest.

I felt his heavy footsteps after mine, stepping closer to the spot that I would choose to train. His breathing was normal, and kind of relaxed for once instead of that crazy sugar-high type breath that he kept up.

I stopped abruptly when we arrived at a spot that had few trees and a lot of tall grass that went a little higher than my knees. I smiled slightly as the sun beat down on me, illuminating the grass and trees.

I looked at Naruto with my hands at my sides and a warm smile on my face. "Okay Naruto-kun, let's begin."

I got into my Hyuga stance. I doubt Neji-nii-san took the time to explain it to him so I should be safe as long as he didn't remember the fight for the alliance.

He grinned at me and nodded. Then he ran forward and attempted to punch me in the face. I matrixed, only faster and got up quickly to try and get him in the shoulder with the gentle fist. He dodged it easily and I frowned a bit.

I ran toward him, my hand back and ready to get him. He was still grinning toothily, his hyperactive energy back. I couldn't help but smile a little. What? His energy was contagious.

I ran forward at almost full speed and almost got him in the chin. He had pushed his head back just in time. I kept trying. I was aiming left and right to get him and he dodged them all. And then out of nowhere, he punched me in the face and I went flying backward into a tree.

I was dizzy from the punch, and my nose had broken so I was getting even dizzier from blood loss. My vision was blurring. I quickly sent a sharper focus into my eyes, although it didn't do much good because now instead of a blur, I saw three Naruto's running straight for me.

I stood up and then the next thing I knew, I was kicked up in the air and then someone barraged me on the head. I fell face first to the ground and coughed up a bit of blood. I looked up and saw Naruto landing. My eyes widened. I was able to see fine now. So I wasn't really all that dizzy?

No, he'd created an illusion. I slowly got to my feet, panting a bit. "Naruto-kun…how did you do that?" He grinned toothily at me, a grin that neither Temari nor Tenten could match. "Well, I have a demon inside me. I was born and it just…got me so someone retained it, you know, put a seal to keep it there. Although…it didn't stop the bad luck. My parents died soon after…" He said it with a big smile, like if nothing mattered.

My eyes widened and then I let them soften as I walked toward him. "Naruto-kun, if you want we can have Ino remove the demon so the bad luck will end." He smiled. "Oh no, that's fine. As much as I'd love to have it removed, I also like using its powers to my advantage and I've been able to retain it myself most of the times. The funny thing is that this guy who was working for Orochimaru behind the scenes told me about the demon."

Again, he was grinning. I blinked and looked up at him. I slowly let a smile cross my face and then beamed up at him. He was confessing about a demon in him and yet he was so hyperactive and energetic and happy. At least now I knew where his energy came from.

"Alright Naruto-kun, then I expect you to not go easy on me." He smiled down at me. I got back into my stance. "Get ready Naruto-kun!" "Do-Okay!"

**Ino**

I laughed along with Hinata and Temari at Sakura. She was so damn hilarious. I uncaringly turned around and grabbed the nearest person by the collar. "Alright, let's go train."

Someone slapped me in the back of the head. I let go of them and rubbed the abused spot. "What the hell?" I turned around and saw Temari standing there, frowning. "You're supposed to train Kiba, not me…" I blinked and laughed a bit. "Sorry Tema-chan! I thought you were Kiba." Her frown deepened.

I blinked, realizing the offensive hidden meaning in my words. "Oh, I mean you know since your ponytails are so spiky and…you know his hair is spiky." She smirked all of a sudden. "Geez Ino any ditsier and you're going to be put in Special Ed classes for being so ignorant." I frowned this time. "Geez Temari, any bossier and they're gonna put you as principal in the school and you'll have to go to school every single day…" She frowned again and before she could retort I pulled Kiba by the arm and high-tailed it outta there.

I blasted through the forest, slower than Temari and Tenten but faster than Sakura. When I was scared, no one could stop me.

Well no one except for Kiba. He started running in the opposite direction. I was pulled backward and crashed into him. We both fell to the ground, back to back. I leaned forward and rubbed mine. "Ouch Kiba…that hurt!" He just laughed a bit. I frowned and stood up, dusting off my skirt.

He turned around on his butt to look at me. I put out my hand and he grabbed it. I easily pulled him up. He grinned at me and I giggled a bit. "Alrighty then Kiba, let's get to work." He nodded.

I got into my stance which was very similar to Sakura's. "Alright, attack me with everything you've got." He nodded and whistled. Akamaru popped out of his book-bag.

"W-what the hell? You keep your dog in your book-bag?" He nodded, grinning. "Yeah, so that when I come out I can walk him and feed him and have him with me." I smiled at him. That somehow made me feel at peace seeing as he cared so much.

I got back into my stance, which I'd relieved when I saw his dog. He stood straight and tall with his dog standing, short as hell, next to him. He smirked a bit and then ran at me. I dodged his punches and was careful of Akamaru. His dog bit pretty damn hard!

I back-bended when he tried to punch me and then back-flipped over myself to dodge a barrage-kick. He ground his teeth together. I smirked a bit. He tried to get me with a punch to the face. I did a quick split and flipped over to double-barrage him.

It worked. I got him with the first kick in the stomach, which knocked him down and the second barraged him as I stood up right next to his feet. I smirked down at him. He glared lightly at me.

And then…the creepiest thing happened, he smirked back. The next thing I knew, I was being pulled down to the ground and he was sitting on top of me, punching me multiple times in the face. I felt a sharp pain shoot up my arm. I had my eyes closed against the pain.

Kiba quickly got off of me and I sat up. Something warm had rolled down from my nose and lips. Oh damn him! He'd broken them…good thing Sakura knew how to fix a crooked nose.

I slowly stood up and was immediately knocked down again. I groaned and looked up to see Kiba and his dog standing there, Kiba running around me with his dog going in the opposite direction. I relaxed a bit, seeing as all they were doing was running around me.

They both quickly turned as soon as I relaxed my position and crashed into me from both sides. Now I know what you're thinking, Akamaru's little, how can he do much damage? Well trust me, you have no idea! The little sucker knocked the breath outta me.

I fell to the ground with blood on both sides of my mouth. I looked up at Kiba and Akamaru standing at my feet, looking super tall. I breathed in deeply and cringed when it took affect on my organs.

I slowly got up, ignoring the pain and looked at them, clutching my side and panting. "Alright then, you're good but you still need a lot of work. Let's go then."

Kiba blinked and looked at me. I smiled. "I was told to test the waters first. Now that I've done that, I can easily determine how much work you need. Depending on what I've learned, I'd say about a year's worth of training packed up into eight weeks.

His eyes widened. "How is that possible?" I smirked. "It'll be a living torture because in order to get you accustomed to Orochimaru's torture methods, you'll have to go through mine which are far much worse."

For him, this was gonna be a nightmare and for me, I got to use my powers so sweet…

**Temari  
**I laughed a bit as I saw Ino run off. She was one quick little fucker when she got scared. I was gonna go run after her but then I remembered that the lazy-ass was there.

I turned to him with my hands on my hips. "You ready?" He rubbed the back of his neck and muttered something incoherent. "What was that?" He sighed and looked at me before saying, "What a drag…" My eye twitched and he chuckled a bit.

I sighed and grabbed him by the arm, dragging him deeper into the forest, away from everyone else.

Now I know that saying 'attack me with everything you've got' would sound cliché but I'm not like that. I'm the oddball in case you didn't know and so is Tenten, we're two of a kind you get her and you get me.

So anyway, saying 'hit me with everything you've got' would be wack and cliché but I'm much cooler. I stopped and turned around, facing him. "Alright no warnings get ready and fight your hardest if you die then that's your problem good luck!" I said it all quick before hopping on my fan and flying in the wind. It was a trick I'd picked up long ago when I was experimenting with it.

It brought up the air pressure automatically and let me ride on it no matter how heavy I was. I rode it with ease and speed. I was trying not to be seen. It wouldn't be a surprise, however, if he found me by tracing the changes in air patterns although the changes were close to unnoticeable.

But then again, he had a mind that could easily identify the unidentified…why do I feel like I'm bragging?

Something silver went right in front of my face. I turned the fan to swerve around it. It embedded itself into a tree. A knife?

I looked at the angle of trajectory…Shikamaru…damn it! He'd found me!

No time to inwardly curse myself for spacing out. I flipped off of my fan, grabbing the end and closing it before I landed. I then opened it and tried to get him. He learned from our last battle. He dodged the sharp winds. I ground my teeth together for a minute.

He took the chance and ran at me. I dodged it easily and he quickly tried to kick me in the stomach. He succeeded…sadly. I flew back into a tree and slid down the trunk. I winced and looked up at him. He was standing there lazily looking down at me.

I stood up slowly. "Is that the best you can do? A kick and a knife." He smirked suddenly and I gulped. Had I just set the taboo? He put his hands in that creepy hand-sign and said "Shadow Suffocation Jutsu!" I gasped as shadow-hands crept up my body, forcing me to be still, and up to my neck, tightening once they got there. I gasped for breath but the hands just tightened.

I couldn't grab them, seeing as they were shadows and fighting was impossible seeing as they were able to restrain me. "What kind of exorcist trick is this?" He smirked a bit and I ground my teeth together and tried to breathe.

"It's not a trick it's an actual technique. This is the one that we use to either try and kill the demons or just send it flying out of a human's body when the Yamanaka's Mind Transfer doesn't work."

I tried to move again, to break, but nothing. I twitched my arm a little. It moved. I reached for a knife on a strap on my leg. Shikamaru noticed and intensified the pressure of the jutsu, and made it surround my neck completely. I breathed in deeply as a last resort for breath until I could get to my knife.

I slowly unstrapped it and pulled it out. And then, with all the force I could muster from the lack of oxygen in my body, I threw it at Shikamaru. It was aimed for his chest but the wind blew it a bit higher and now it was going for his arms.

He quickly let go of the jutsu and dodged the knife with nothing but a scrape on his left arm.

I fell to my knees and put a hand down to steady myself as I coughed and breathed deeply. I looked up at him. He was smirking at me and I got up slowly. "Alrighty then…you need to improve that technique so that they're not able to get out of it like I was. Orochimaru and his men are formidable. You need to be ready for a living hell you got that Shikamaru?"

He rubbed the back of his neck and nodded. I grinned. "Alrighty then, be ready." I said as I backed up and picked up my fan…

**Tenten**

I screamed a it as I fell back. I looked up with one eye closed as Neji stood towering above me. Lee had long since been defeated and was unconsciously leaning against a tree. It was just me and Neji training now.

I breathed deeply and cringed when it hurt my sides. I slowly stood looked at him, holding my side. "I'm still recovering…and now it's gonna take longer…thanks Neji that was a nice 'Get Well Soon' gift." I said sarcastically.

He chuckled a bit. I quickly pulled out a mass of weapons and shot them all at Neji with deadly accuracy. He was hit by a few but nothing serious, just on stab in his arm and a few deep cuts along with some scratches although all of that together was extremely painful. He fell to the ground and I took this time to go take a look at my phone.

I picked it up and looked at the time. It was five minutes to five. So we'd been fighting that long already? It vibrated in my hand and I flipped open to phone to see I had received a text message from someone who wasn't in my contacts.

I opened it anyway.

'**Hey Ten-chan, it's Zaku-kun u coming home l8er or do u want me 2 go 2 ur house?'**

I death glared the phone as I replied.

'**Zaku u dumass I dnt like u leave me the fuck alone!'**

I sent the message and shut my phone. I heard someone approach me and turned and chucked a kunai at whoever it was. Neji dodged it easily and kept walking forward toward me.

I looked up at him. He sat down next to me. "Tenten…who are you texting?" I looked away quickly. "Zaku found my number."

"Oh…" I sighed and nodded. The phone in my hand vibrated again and I flipped it open. It was another text from Zaku.

'**Ten-chan dnt b like that c'mon I been waiting 4 a long-azz time 4 u 2 come over here mayb we can hav some fun…'**

I twitched as I read the message. I growled lowly. I felt Neji reading it over my shoulder. I replied quickly.

'**Zaku u desperate man whore u wna fuck then go get urself a girl that isn't me cuz I ain't gna get wif u…ever'**

I sent the message and shut off my phone as soon as it left the outbox. I turned to Neji which was a big mistake, seeing as he was right on my shoulder…we both fell

I closed my eyes for the impact but instead I felt something warm underneath me. And then my lips crashed onto something else that was warm. I opened my eyes and saw Neji there, his lips to mine, and his body under mine.

I blinked twice before removing my lips from his and jumping off of him quickly. He sat up, his face emotionless. I blinked and blushed a deep red. Someone wolf whistled and I turned my head to see…Kiba…

With Ino and the rest of them. Lee had woken up, I guess when I'd groaned, and had seen the entire shit. Oh…crap…

Ino jumped forward, over-excited. "TENTEN, TENTEN, TENTEN! I DIDN'T KNOW THAT YOU AND NEJI LIKED EACH OTHER…I mean it's only been three days but DANG YOU GUYS ARE ALREADY DA-AAH!" I punched her in the jaw, which sent her flying back into a nearby tree. I stood up and turned my head away from everyone, so that they wouldn't see my blush.

I heard Sakura laugh and say, "That's what you get for sticking your nose into everything Ino-pig!" I giggled a bit and then turned to the girls. "Alright then, girls! I'm out see you later you take care of everything bu-bye!" I turned to leave but Temari quickly ran over and grabbed me by the collar of my uniform.

I groaned loudly. "Where do you think you're going girly? You're gonna help us with this shit, you got that." I frowned and turned my head to look at her. "Yeah I get it…" I elbowed her in the stomach quickly and laughed as I flipped up into a tree, looking down at her. "I get that you're gonna do this by yourself so see ya!"

I turned and flipped through the trees with my natural-born flexibility.

I laughed as I heard Temari let out a string of loud profanities and climb on her fan to chase after me herself.

**Hinata**

I sighed as Temari climbed on her fan and used the wind to elevate herself upward. She then jumped from branch to branch after Tenten, who was flipping through them and cackling wildly.

Next to me, Sakura sighed and Ino whined. "I wanna go after them and see the fight." I gave her a small frown and she calmed a bit. Sakura had a huge grimace on her face.

A distant 'Ow dammit Temari!' rang through the trees and I jumped onto a branch as well. "Guess we'd better go break them up."

I turned to the guys. "I might need your help so please…come." They all, with the exception of Neji, nodded and jumped up into the trees with me. Sakura and Ino were already a little ahead.

I jumped through the branches my fastest, only stopping to push myself off another branch. I stopped at the clearing that we had all gathered at a few days before. I heard Temari shout "C'mon girl show me what you got." And then I heard Tenten reply. "Alright, but remember you asked for it!"

And just like that, Tenten was in the air, spiraling like crazy and throwing weapons at Temari with deadly accuracy.

Temari smirked and swung her fan to deflect all of the weapons. Tenten fell along with them, doing a cross block to shield her face from all the knives and daggers. A few scraped her arms but other than that she was fine.

She sat up quickly, the blood trickling down her arm, and pulled herself to her feet. "I'm not done!" She threw up two kunai in the air and got into her position to do her Rising Twin Dragons.

She yelled out the name and spun around, flipping twice as many weapons as before. I always wondered how she did that and when her skirt went up a bit, I saw that she had about three pouches strapped onto her leg right above where the two knives had been.

She landed just before the two kunai and gasped as Temari deflected all the attacks. Temari smirked and spun around again with her fan, sending Tenten into the sky, and keeping her there as the wind cut her a few times across the chest and arms.

Her uniform shirt got cut up a bit above her breasts and a few below that. The blood was blown around the clearing by the wind.

I dodged the droplets that came my way, as had done the girls. Neji hadn't even bothered to move so a few splattered him here and there.

The wind suddenly stopped and Tenten was falling right to Temari's side. Temari put her fan there and Tenten slammed her back on it. She stayed there, balanced, as she coughed up blood. Temari smirked. Tenten breathed in deeply and rolled off the fan to pick up her weapons.

She slowly walked over to one and fell to her knees. She picked up a knife and pressed it against her finger slowly. I raised and eyebrow, as did everyone else, with he exception of Sakura who complained that she'd have to care for all of that later.

Tenten pressed it harder onto her finger. From the corner of my eye, I saw Neji's own eyes widen. She suddenly turned and threw it at lightning speed. It got Temari in the stomach, although not too deep and not in any serious spots. Temari doubled over in pain, one arm wrapped around her waist and the other hand on her fan.

Tenten stood up, smirking at Temari who was cringing in pain. Tenten laughed a bit, her regularly cheerful face on again. "I got you Tema-chan! And you thought you would beat me!"

Temari glared up at her and slowly stood. She opened her fan to all three moons. I gasped and jumped in the middle, getting the full blast. I fell back onto the grass, dragging a bit back.

I got up quickly. "Tema-chan, Ten-chan, please cut it out!" They smiled at me and nodded. I sighed and put my arms out to the both of them, putting up my pointer finger and signaling for them to come over here.

They hesitated but came over and I knocked them both upside the jaw. The both took a few steps back to steady themselves and brought their heads to look at the ground.

I crossed my hands in front of myself. They both sighed simultaneously and said, "Sorry Hina-chan…we didn't mean to fight." I smiled brightly and walked back to where Sakura and Sasuke were standing.

They all stared at me and I blushed a deeper red than Tenten when we found her and Neji in their training field.

Everyone laughed and I blushed harder.

I was somewhat embarrassed and yet strangely happy that they were laughing at me. I looked up and saw Neji laughing as well. It looks like he was finally noticing me…or maybe it was just the fear of Tenten or Sakura's wrath.

* * *

_Chapter Five thanks to all who read and review please!_

_Oh and BTW I put up a poll on my profile about which story I should put up next I think they have some good plots I'm like a female Shikamaru. I plan everything out a hundred steps or so before laying it out... please vote!_


	6. Classes

**Chapter Six**

**Classes**

**Tenten**

I walked out of math class with drooping eyes and a dreary mood. Everything that Gai was teaching in there, I'd already learned in freshmen year back in Suna.

I walked down the halls briskly. I didn't want to have to get into a fight with someone again when I was so sore. My walk turned into a run as I heard the bell ring.

I got to my locker in record timing and put all of my books inside. I grabbed my gym uniform and just zoomed down the halls. I heard another set of footsteps behind me. I turned my head and saw Temari catching up quickly. "Temari?" She grinned toothily. "Look, I have the same class as you now! C'mon, I'm fired up! Race you to the gym?"

I grinned my own toothy grin and nodded before blasting down the halls. I laughed as Temari screamed out, "Tenten-chan! No fair, you got the head start." I heard her footsteps quicken and I ran even faster.

I turned a corner quickly, smirking back at Temari, when I bumped into someone and dropped my gym uniform. I bopped my nose on what I think is their chest. Judging from how muscular and flat it was, it was either a boy or Sakura.

I laughed a bit as that thought ran through my mind. I already knew full well that Sakura was muscular but her chest was bigger than that.

"What's so funny?" I looked up and saw Neji standing there, looking down at me with an eyebrow raised. I blinked a bit and replied. "I was just thinking of an insult for Sakura…" He gave me a weird look and I turned my torso a bit to pick up my gym clothes, which was a big mistake, seeing as I was sore and I'd just finished running.

"Um…" I blinked and looked up at him. He was…blushing? Neji Hyuga was blushing? Someone whistled and I turned my head to flick off the guy. I cocked my head to the side in confusion. "What?" His blush was slowly going from pink to red.

"Um…" I groaned and rolled my eyes. "You know, if you're gonna repeat yourself then I'll never know what you're trying to tell me." He turned his head away for a minute and then looked back at me.

"Tenten, check your skirt." I blinked and looked down confused and then I blushed profusely. My skirt had gone up really high and part of my underwear was showing. I 'eeped' and pulled down my skirt quickly, Neji putting his hand out and helping me up. Another person whistled and looked at me in certain places.

I turned and stamped my foot. "Damn it you want some knives up your ass or should I just take the AK 47 and blast your ass to America?" He turned his head quickly and power-walked down the hallway. I smirked and then turned and punched someone when I felt a hand slap my ass.

I gasped when I realized it was Temari. And despite how hard I'd punched her, she was rolling on the floor laughing her fat ass off. I blinked and then closed my fist. "Damn it Temari! I thought you were a boy." She grinned at me. "That was what I intended. I did it on purpose to see how you would react! I was making sure that you still had it."

I 'harrumphed' and crossed my arms with my uniform still in hand, turning my head away from her.

She laughed and I just walked away from her and toward the gym. She yelled after me. "Hey Tenten, pull your skirt down in the back!" I blushed profusely and patted it down as the boys all stared at my ass and the girls all threw me dirty looks…that I returned of course.

I groaned loudly as I passed hallways and got to the gym. I ran into the locker rooms and changed quickly.

The gym uniform was, if anything, better than the actual school uniform, seeing as they were shorts.

They were basically slate shorts with "Konoha High" written in black graffiti-style letters on the side. The shirt was just a tight black t-shirt with the same graffiti written on it in white with thigh-high black socks with a slate stripe on the side and white running shoes.

I sighed as I walked out into the actual gym. I ignored the stares and sat down on the bleachers while everyone changed. Neji walked out of the locker rooms in the boys' gym uniform, which I had to admit, was pretty damn sexy!

The boys' regular school uniform would usually be a white collared shirt with a black tie, slate pants, and black shoes.

The boys' gym uniform was a pair of slate basketball shorts with the same design as the girls' uniform on the side with a baggy black t-shirt and the same design as the girl's shirt. And then, just some white running shoes, like us.

I tried not to ogle Neji as he walked out but dammit he was too damn sexy! I mean, sure I didn't like him at first and I still sorta don't and I think he's a cocky, self-centered, stuck up, rich bastard, he's still hot.

I kept my face well hidden, trying not to show my fan-girl-isity.

I watched the rest of the boys come out of the locker rooms, although I kept an eye on Neji through the corner of mine. A pair of pale, chubby legs stepped in front of me. I looked up and saw Ami standing there, glaring down at me.

I stood up quickly and looked her dead in the eye. "What do you want?" She was surprisingly a bit shorter than me without her heels. I blinked while I waited fir her reply and then… "Look girl, just because your girls beat my girls a couple times, that doesn't mean that you can get away with staring at _my_ Neji-kun!"

I smirked and looked at Neji again and then I called to him. "Yo Neji, do you belong to Ami?" He gave me the funniest 'what the fuck' look and shook his head quickly. I laughed and looked back at her. "Well looks like that's covered." She narrowed her eyes at me.

I glared back at her. She then turned her head in Neji's direction. He was staring at us. "Neji-kun, don't act like we're not together! You know full well how much we love each other!"

I blinked and stared at her and then I bust out laughing. She was actually serious! She actually thought that Neji liked her back! I felt her turn her eyes to me and I just laughed in her face.

"What's so funny _panda_?!" I froze for a minute and then I glared at her. "What did you just call me?" "_Pan-da_!" She emphasized each syllable. I closed my fist. "No one calls me panda unless it's one of the girls! YOU GOT THAT!" I brought my fist back to punch her when someone brought me up to them, their arms around my waist.

I struggled against them but they were just too damn strong. I knew that Sakura was in a regular class right now, not gym, so she was off the list and this person was way too strong to be a girl. So it was a boy…

I struggled against him. "Tenten…calm down, you beat her ass yesterday, don't do it again today no matter how much you want to."

Neji?

Dammit how many times was this guy gonna interfere with my fights?

I pushed on his strong arms but he was just too damn muscular. I felt Ami glaring daggers at me. "You see that Panda, Neji-kun came to my defense!" I closed my eyes and thrashed against him. "DON'T CALL ME PANDA DAMMIT YOU UGLY ASS BLUE-HAIRED BITCH!"

I heard her fake gasp but I was too pissed to care. I fought against Neji, with all of my strength. He sighed, picked me up, and pulled me further away from Ami.

I screamed out in surprise and fought against him still. "Neji! Let me go! Let me go!" He didn't listen.

He pushed back a door and pulled me out into the small hallway that was right after the stairs that were usually empty. There he put me down and pushed me against a wall, holding my arms up above my head and leaning close to me, a serious look on his face.

I blinked and blushed lightly at the close proximity. "Tenten, you need to learn how to control your anger." I turned my head away from him. "No I don't! So if a bitch doesn't like me, I want to kick her ass, what's so wrong with that?"

He put more pressure on my arms and walked a bit closer, leaning his head in closer. I blinked and blushed again. His breath was tickling my neck.

"Tenten, calm down. If the teachers find out about all of your fights, they're gonna suspend you."

I shrugged as best as I could. "I really don't care. I'm a good student anyway. A few days won't do any harm in this low-class school." Neji growled a bit and I cowered a bit. "Tenten…just do it because think of what would happen if your girls got jumped by Karin's entire gang, which in case you didn't know is like ten times your gang's size." I gulped.

I hung my head low. "Alright, so I didn't think of that…" I could hear the smirk in his voice as he said, "And besides, you look much prettier when you're smiling." I snapped my head up quickly, gaping, and then the next thing I knew, his mouth was over mine.

I gasped into the kiss. He'd just done it with no warning. I, for some reason, didn't resist though. It felt too…nice. His lips were warm and soft. Soon, I found myself kissing him back, my eyes closed.

His hands were still holding my arms up and for that, I didn't care for either. He pulled away slowly and I blushed and turned my head away. For once, he didn't sound cocky, he actually sounded embarrassed.

"Come on!" He grabbed me by the forearm and pulled me back inside the gym. I blew a stray bang from my face. He let my arm go right after he pushed me inside. I sighed silently and walked over to the bleachers and sat down again.

Most of the students were here already and Ami was telling a girl with orangish-pink hair and hazel eyes about what had happened. She sent me a look which I returned tenfold and with eighty times as much hate.

A woman with a navy-blue, spiky circled ponytail walked into the room with a guy with two long scars from his balding head, across his face, to his chin. I gulped. They both looked hardcore.

The lady with the spiky ponytail was in nothing but a tan trench coat, with a dark, tight fishnet shirt that had a black, almost bra-like tube top covering her breasts. She wore brown shorts and high converse boots, which were basically like sneakers but longer.

She screamed out to all of us.

"ALRIGHT MAGGOTS! GET YOUR BUTTS IN GEAR AND GET A VOLLEYBALL AND THE NET! WE'RE STARTING OUR VOLLEYBALL UNIT SO LET'S GET MOVING!" Her voice was loud and commanding.

I covered both of my ears, which I'm pretty sure were now bleeding. I felt Neji sit down next to me and looked up at him, wincing, as the lady was still screaming out orders. "Who on earth is she?" His smirk was back. He looked down at me. "She's Anko-sensei, the teams' gym teacher."

For once, I didn't groan. I sighed. "That sucks…" He chuckled lightly. "At least you don't have Ebisu-sensei. He's even worse." I laughed a bit. "You!" I blinked and looked at the teachers.

Anko was pointing at me. "Me?" "Yeah you. Get your butt up here and give me fifty push-ups." I raised an eyebrow. "NOW MAGGOT!" I sighed and got off my spot on the bleachers and walked over. I quickly got into push-up position and began them, ignoring the pain that shot up my arms as I went down and then back up.

I wasn't counting, just doing them, and listening boredly to her instructions and whenever she would ask me what number I was on, I would just lie.

"Maggot, how many?"

"Thirty-nine."

"That's wrong. You did a lot more now get off the floor and run three laps around the track." I smiled a bit and left everyone there staring at me.

I ran slowly on the first lap which earned me a glare from both teachers that I shrugged off entirely. "Pick up the pace maggot!" I didn't listen, I was still going slow.

"Pick it up!" I still wasn't listening. I was getting to the halfway mark of the lap and getting ready to go sick.

I heard her shout out 'maggot' and I was off. I felt everyone's eyes on me as I quickly finished my second lap and got done with my third.

I got there, slightly out of breath, only a little irregular breathing but no throbbing or hurting and considering how beaten up I'd gotten yesterday, that wasn't bad at all.

Anko looked at me for a bit, blinking a few times. I looked back up at her, grinning.

I was waiting patiently for her to say something and then…

"That was probably the smartest tactic I've ever seen chick why don't you join the track team." I pointed at myself, pretending to act dumb. She nodded and I laughed. "Okay."

Temari stepped forward and sent me a light glare that I grinned at. "Ten-chan no fair! You got on the track team and she didn't even invite me…RACE YA!"

I laughed as she pushed me to the side and started blasting down the track. I was hot on her heels, catching up slowly. I knew she wasn't running her fastest but just fast enough to stay in front of me.

I heard Neji chuckle lightly when I went by. I giggled a bit to myself and ran after Temari, still tailing behind by a bit. I turned another end on the track and ran even faster behind Temari, who was gradually picking up speed as I caught on.

She laughed a bit as I passed her and then she zoomed past me and around the track. I laughed a bit and stopped and watched as Anko-sensei stared at her with wide-eyes and a gaping mouth.

Temari stopped after she passed by me twice and was right in front of the two gym teachers who seemed shocked with the two of us.

I ran the last half of the track and stopped next to Temari, who was standing with a hand on her hip. "Well…can I be a part of the track team?"

Ebisu-sensei and Anko-sensei just stared at her, and then at each other, and then at her again. She grinned her famous toothy grin and I giggled a bit. Anko nodded slightly and Temari jumped up and cheered.

"HELL YES! I'M ON THE TRACK TEAM BABY!" I laughed a bit. Temari was so friggin childish, although when she was compared to me, people would say I acted a whole ten years younger than my age. I would just laugh and say 'you know it.'

I walked over and put my arm around her shoulders, like the besties that we were. "So Tema-chan, who's gonna drive the girls home when we have to stay after school to train…oh shit who's going to train Akuri Kaze?"

I blinked and looked at Neji, who simply smirked at me. I blushed lightly and looked away from him. Temari laughed. "Ten-chan, relax, they won't make us stay after school, will you Anko-sensei?" She shook her head and smirked a bit.

"All athletes on teams will practice during their usual gym class. Everyone else will just have to deal with the usual class with Ebisu."

I was standing next to Neji now and I smirked up at him. He sighed a bit and I just kept my smirk. And then he turned his head to me and smirked back. "Looks like we're gonna be seeing each other a lot then?"

I blinked and looked at him in shock. "Wha-?" He chuckled a bit. "I'm on the boy's track team and on the basketball team." I blinked and groaned, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Neji you meanie, you had me excited. I thought you weren't gonna be in my gym class." He raised an eyebrow. "Meanie? Isn't that a little childish for your vocabulary?"

I looked up at him and smirked suddenly, a thought coming up.

"Well you see, if I were to engage in conversation with you using my highly advanced vocabulary then you would not be able to comprehend me." He leaned his face down close to mine. "Try me."

I blinked a bit and my smirk widened. "Alright then…If you are thinking a thought that you think you're thinking, that you're thinking that certain thought then are you actually thinking the thought or thinking of the thought?"

He chuckled lightly before he answered. "Well obviously I'm thinking about the thought and the thought itself." I pursed my lips and then continued. "Okay then, what is the topic of the thought that you think you're thinking."

He answered with a smirk. "The topic of the thought that I think I'm thinking is the thought that I'm thinking I'm thinking." I frowned a bit, my lips pursed again as I thought of a way to confuse him and then it hit me.

"Okay if you're not thinking the thought you think you're not thinking then how can you not think the thought?" He rolled his eyes slightly, replying. "Well obviously if I think I'm not thinking the thought that I think I'm not thinking, then I obviously am thinking the thought seeing as I think I'm not thinking it."

I kept my arms crossed over my chest. "Yeah well, if you don't think you're not thinking the thought then how is it not possible to not think the thought that you're thinking?" "Actually it is possible to think the thought that you don't think you're thinking and by the way Tenten, I used that same trick on my little cousin Hanabi back when I was in seventh grade and she was like six and she figured it out."

I let my arms drop to my sides. "That's because all of you Hyugas are like superfreak-geniuses with big brains and normal-sized heads…" He laughed a bit and I heard Temari laugh too.

I turned to look at her as she gasped for air and wrapped her arms around her stomach. "You guys should have a comedy show." I rolled my eyes. "With our reputation, I highly doubt we can get one." I laughed a bit and turned back to Anko, realizing that everyone on the track team was walking out onto the track.

I walked over silently until Anko stopped both me and Temari. "You girls did enough warm-up laps, relax for a little, take a break."

I grinned, as did Temari and we both sat on the bleachers that were set up for the football games. I sat sideways on the edge, swinging my legs back and forth, seeing as I was on like the fourth or fifth row.

I watched the two track teams running swiftly and agilely on the track, Neji leading the boys and a girl with gray-speckled blue eyes leading the girls. She was beautiful, her long black hair cascading down her back and currently flying behind her, like a cape of curls.

I blinked and looked away, feeling a small tinge of jealousy as I saw Neji smirk at her, passing by quickly. Temari chuckled a bit and I looked up at her. "What's so funny?" She merely placed her hands over her mouth and hid her wild laughter. I blinked and kept staring at her.

"What's so funny?" She took one hand and pointed to the phone on her lap. I gave her a confused look and she managed to choke out, "Read it," before she was sent into another fit of giggles.

I blinked and read the text message that they had sent her.

**You're the sweetest person I've ever met, you're so sweet. All you're missing is the stick up your ass to become a lollipop.**

I blinked as I read it over and over and then I bust out laughing. I see what she was laughing about too. That was so freaking random.

I looked at the person who sent it. "Sakura-chan, you're a bitch for that one." I was still laughing.

Someone sat down next to me, breathing heavily. I was still laughing. "What's so funny?"

And I guess Neji had finished doing his laps already. I handed him the phone and laughed a bit at his face after he read it. "All I need is a stick up my ass to be a lollipop?" I elbowed Temari playfully, saying, "Too late for that," and then laughing again with her.

Neji frowned and handed me the phone back, which I gave to Temari. "As much as I'd love to stay and play dumb, Anko is calling for us." I calmed myself down a bit and looked at all of the students who were on teams. They were all lined up in front of Anko as Ebisu took the rest of the class to another part of the field.

I stood up on the bleacher and flipped off, landing on my feet easily. I saw Anko staring at me from the corner of my eye and I smiled a bit to myself. I turned and walked onto the track, ignoring the stares that I knew Neji was giving me and the look that Temari probably had on her face.

I stopped when I was with the rest of the class. I felt Temari and Neji behind me in a few seconds time. Anko was giving instructions to the entire track team and she turned to the basketball team and told them to go practice on the outdoor court.

Neji walked over to the court silently, walking lazily in front of all of his teammates, yet somehow looking like the most elegant and cutest one out of all of them.

I turned back to look at Anko and saw that she had told us all to do a few jumping-jacks so reluctantly, I began mine.

**Sakura**

I sighed as I tapped my pencil on the desk quickly, chewing on the gum Ino had handed me after lunch silently and absentmindedly. I was working on the science work that Kurenai-sensei had slammed down in front of us like it was nothing.

I put the pencil's eraser to my temple as I read over the question.

'_What substance would I get if I were to mix seven Cl atoms with on Na atom?'_

If they were going to make us do work this easy, stuff that I'd covered in eighth grade and seventh grade then I wouldn't have to worry about Tenten failing this class.

'_Obviously…SALT!'_

I quickly scribbled that down and moved onto the next question.

'_What would happen if a person was to mix two H atoms with an O atom?'_

I scribbled 'water' on my paper hastily. What did they take us for? A bunch of idiots?

I saw a piece of folded up paper come over the test that they had given us and I looked down at it questioningly. I silently opened it up and read the note.

'_Sup…?'_

I slapped my forehead softly. Sup? That was all he could think of. I could here Sasuke's fake coughs hide his laughter.

The silver-haired teacher with the lazy eyes looked up at him. "Would you like a drink of water Sasuke?" Said person just shook their head and coughed once more before replying with a simple, "No thanks, I'm good Kakashi-sensei."

I rolled my eyes and slowly wrote back.

'_The ceiling, the sky, the clouds, space, Heaven, the stars, the moon, Pluto, Jupiter, Neptune, Venus, Mars, Mercury, Saturn, Uranus…should I go on?'_

I slowly slid the paper onto his side of the science table and saw him smirk slightly as he read it.

'_No that's fine…but I would like to know what's going on with you.'_

I rolled my eyes again and wrote back.

'_I am trying to finish my test…I'm almost done so once I'm done I'll write to you, got that?'_

I slid it back onto his desk and hastily went through the questions. I finished scribbling down my answers in a neat scrawl and stared blankly for a minute at the note that was right next to my note before I read it.

'…_alright, so now that you're done…are you bored?'_

I replied back quickly.

'_No shyt!'_

I slid it to him discreetly and I saw him smirk a bit as he read it.

'_well then who told you to try and finish so damn early?'_

I read the note and restrained myself from punching him in the jaw.

'_I don't know, maybe it was your constant note-writing…did you ever think of that?'_

I passed it to him with a scowl on my face. I heard him hold back a laugh which resulted in him coughing and clearing his throat.

He scribbled something down on the paper and then passed it back to me.

'_Well maybe it was your subconscious trying to get you to finish so that you could talk to me because deep down inside you know that you like me…'_

I held back a growl and blushed a deep red as I thought of something to write…and then…it hit me…

'_Maybe the real reason you were writing to me is because you know that you like me so you were trying to cover up your embarrassing note-writing by making it seem like it was my fault and saying I like you when really it's the other way around.'_

I smirked triumphantly as I passed it to him and saw his face twist into one of mild confusion and then one that just yelled out 'WTF.'

I started laughing quietly until Karin shushed me with a cocky smirk on her face. "Shhh Sakura-chan, some of us are actually trying to take our test." She said it in a fake sweetness that made me sick to my stomach. I honestly felt like shoving my arm down her throat and then pulling out her intestines…okay ew…that was graphic.

I turned to her myself. "Well if you're actually trying to take your test then why have you been trying to peek onto my paper for the past half hour?"

She seemed taken aback and then she began stuttering over her words. "N-n-no I wasn't I was keeping my eyes on my test the entire time!"

I smirked at her. "Oh really? Then what's the answer to number twelve?" She looked down at her test paper and looked up at me with an unsure grin on her face.

"Um…Magnesium?" I shook my head, grinning evilly. "Nope…"

I turned back around in my seat and I heard Kakashi-sensei sigh. "Sakura, you can't just go around laughing and then telling people off when they tell you to quiet down for the sake of others."

I rolled my eyes. "And what about her cheating?" He turned to Karin simply sighed again.

"Karin you cannot go around copying other people's papers."

She sent me a glare that I smirked at and then I stuck my tongue out at her. Kakashi saw us and snapped his fingers. "Alright, that's it you both, come here so I can rip up your tests."

I stood up with my hands on my hips. "Wait a minute, so because she copied off of my test paper and I smirked at a bitch that I don't like, I got in trouble?" His eye widened a bit as I said it and then he frowned.

"Sakura, come down here so I can rip up your test." I shook my head defiantly. "No, you want to rip up a test, rip up her's. I'm not getting my test ripped because some perverted ass teacher doesn't thinks it's right to cheat!"

I huffed and took a seat. He simply sighed as he ripped up Karin's paper. He looked at me with a hard gaze in his eyes. "Sakura…to the office, now." I shook my head again, crossing my arms over my chest.

"I'm not going."

"Sakura."

I shook my head and I felt a hand on my shoulder. I blinked and looked up at Sasuke. "Kakashi-sensei, if I may intervene, I don't think there is a reason to send Sakura to the office. She does, in fact, have a point."

I nodded at him thankfully and Kakashi sighed again. "Fine then, Uchiha, for agreeing with her, you're being sent to the office as well."

I stood up and crossed my arms, closing my eyes as I just yelled. "DAMMIT THESE GUY TEACHERS MUST BE ON THEIR PERIOD OR SOMETHING BECAUSE THEY STAY PMS'ING WHAT THE FUCK?! NOTHING CAN CONVINCE YOU HUH? WELL YOU KNOW WHAT RIP UP MY TEST SEE IF I GIVE A FUCK YOU CAN GO SUCK A DICK AND ROT IN HELL FOR I CARE AND ABOUT LETTING KARIN OFF THE HOOK THAT EASY I'M JUST THINKING THAT SHE'S BEEN FUCKING YOU FOR THE PAST YEAR IN ORDER TO PASS THIS DAMN WHACK ASS CLASS! AND I'LL BET THE ONLY REASON THAT YOU'RE WEARING A MASK IS BECAUSE THAT BITCH GAVE YOU HERPIES! FUCK YOU!" I stuck my middle finger out at him for emphasis.

I turned on my heel and walked through the array of desks and out the doors, ignoring Sasuke's sighs as he followed and the rest of the class' laughs.

I stomped out into the hallway, glaring at Kakashi's shocked face one more time before turning the corner and stomping down that hallway.

I heard Sasuke's quick footsteps behind mine as I turned that corner and stopped at another set of lockers.

He stopped right behind me and then the next thing I know he's laughing. Not chuckling, not hiding a laugh, but actually laughing.

I raised an eyebrow, staring at him as he laughed. The smile added to his handsome features if not all out brightened them.

It was nice; his laugh…until I got tired of it and blew up. "Okay what the hell is up with the intense laughing?"

He slowly calmed down and looked back at me. "You spazzed out on Kakashi." I rolled my eyes. "Been there, done that…the day I left my old high-school back in Suna I spazzed on the gym teacher because he kept coming in and staring at us while we changed…My Inner-Sakura came out…"

He raised an eyebrow now. "Oh really, and what would you do if I popped into the locker rooms in gym while you were changing?" I blushed and punched him lightly on the arm. "S-Sasuke you pervert!"

He laughed a bit more as I fumed in embarrassment.

"You didn't answer my question." I blinked and looked up at him, and then frowned, my lips turning into a thin line. "I would beat you up so bad that not only would you be in a three year coma you'd also have what my dad had when my mom caught him peeping at her in the hot springs back on their middle school trip."

"And that would be?" I smiled innocently as I said this. "Six broken ribs, many ruptured internal organs, and some brain damage down on a cellular level so it couldn't be repaired all that well."

His eye twitched and I laughed a bit. "Sadistic bitch." I stopped and turned to him. "What the fuck was that Sasuke Uchiha?"

He stood up straight immediately. "Nothing S-Sakura-chan…" I smirked a bit. "Chan?" A light blush tinted his cheeks and the bridge of his nose and an idea popped into my head.

"So Sasuke, tell me…do you think I'm pretty?" He turned even redder. "Do you think I'm…sexy?"

I'll bet that this was what Hyuga was doing to Tenten right now, or something along those lines.

----Somewhere else----

Been there, done that. We finished our scene already…

----Back to SasuSaku----

I pushed him on the lockers roughly on purpose and then put on an innocent face as I pressed my body to his lightly. "Sasuke-kun…do you…" I leaned up to talk into his ear and I could feel the heat radiating from his body.

"Like me?" I fought back my smirk as I pressed my lips to his cheek lightly and held them there for a bit before I backed up to look at his face.

He wasn't beet red anymore. In fact, he had a cocky smirk on his face. He suddenly grabbed me by the arms and pushed me against the lockers, him blocking me now.

I blushed lightly. He'd caught on. Damn… He leaned down to talk into my ear now. "Only as much as you love me." I blinked a bit and then he pressed his lips onto mine very quickly. Damn flirt!

I blinked and turned redder than Karin's hair as he smirked down at me. I pushed him lightly off of me. Fucking smart bastard.

I walked in front of him, frowning and closing my fists. I could practically hear the smirk in his voice as he said, "Sakura, maybe you should ask for knee-length skirts because your ass is too big to be in skirts that short."

All sanity was lost as my inner took control of me. I turned to him with a fire in my eyes, my teeth clenched, and my fist closed.

"DAMMIT SASUKE YOU FUCKING PERVERTED EMO CHICKEN-ASS-HAIRED BASTARD!"

He turned pale at my shout as I stomped down the hallway, punching at the air on my way to the office.

**Hinata**

I giggled lightly as Sakura exited the classroom with Sasuke behind her. Naruto, who was a few rows in front of me, was laughing the loudest.

I blushed a bit as I thought about how he was just so carefree, laughing so loud, letting everyone see him act like a fool and not caring about what they thought of him.

And for a moment his cerulean blue eyes opened and met with mine, smiling…no grinning at them. I gasped lightly and turned my head away in embarrassment. He stopped laughing immediately.

"Yo…Hina-chan…you okay?" I blushed and looked down at my paper, which had already been completed.

He climbed out of his desk and walked over to the empty one next to mine. "Hina-chan, what's wrong?"

I shook my head wildly. "Nothing…nothing…"

I turned my head to look out the window and I could hear the grin in his voice while he talked. "Well you do know that if anything's bothering you, you can tell me right?" I turned to him, my eyes wide. And then I let them soften into a certain fondness that just popped into me, giving me a feeling that wasn't uncomfortable or bad, but frustrating and confusing because I didn't know what it was.

I nodded twice, smiling gratefully at him and he just grinned back at me, as usual.

I turned back around in my seat, hearing the class quiet down. Naruto rushed back to his seat quickly.

I smiled at his back.

'_Naruto Uzumaki…you sure are something…'_

**Ino**

I groaned a bit as I moved on to another rather long equation that was etched on the board.

Function tables. Simple? Yes. Childish? Yes. Easy? No.

The array of questions that Gai-sensei had laid out for us was a bunch of complicated equations for function tables such as:

y=(3x/7+35)…cubed…and they all led me to complicated and long decimals that I would have to fit into a teeny tiny graph on my paper. And I had a feeling that I got everything wrong anyway.

I'd never been good at math. Even Tenten and Temari beat me in this category.

I sighed and set my pencil down onto my desk next to my notebook. I felt Kiba look up at me. We had this class together. "Ino…what's wrong?" I frowned and leaned back in my seat, crossing my arms.

"I hate math, that's what's wrong. And not only that, I suck at it!" He chuckled lightly as the other kids chattered amongst each other to figure out the questions, as Asuma had let us partner up for certain questions.

"Well I'm great at math…I can tutor you." I blinked in surprise. "You…you would?" He nodded simply and I smiled at him. "Thanks Kiba-kun!"

He didn't reply so I blinked and stared at him, spotting the reason immediately. He was blushing…probably embarrassed.

He cleared his throat and then turned to look at my notebook. "So, what number are you on?"

Now I blushed in embarrassment. "Four…" He blinked and looked at me, grinning a bit. "After twenty-five minutes, you're still on four?" I rolled my eyes. "Well it's not funny to me. Do you have any idea how hard these problems are?"

"Yes, not very." I rolled my eyes again. "Well let's get started, you obviously need a lot of help if that's all you've done so far."

I grinned a bit as he took his pencil and pointed to important parts of the questions that had important meaning to it.

So Kiba was smart? And on top of that, he was pretty hot. Nice mix…neh?

* * *

_Sorry for the wait..._

_Thanks to all who read and review please!_


	7. Kiss

**Chapter Seven**

**Training Session or Make-Out Session?**

**Tenten**

I slipped into my usual kickboxing outfit after school which was nothing but basketball shorts, a tight shirt, and some shoes that I could slip off when I got there.

I walked to the place slowly, with the girls next to me, seeing as we went to the same MMA place.

It wasn't that bad out today. There were a couple clouds in the sky but overall the sun was shining and it was warm with a small, cuddly breeze. As it blew by, I couldn't help but smile at the serenity that this place seemed to have all of a sudden; that is until I remembered that people were going to die soon and that it was up to me to save this place.

I frowned almost immediately. I would need a punching bag today because if they put me to box against a person, I would deflate them completely and send them to the hospital, which is what Sakura did in her first spar.

It wasn't that we were required to do these martial arts, it was that we wanted to. We couldn't help it, hell even Ino liked to kick people's asses just for fun.

Hinata's family taught a private class there, although she didn't have to take it seeing as she mastered the art of the gentle fist when she was ten.

I pushed open the doors to the MMA place, ignoring the smell that came to me and set down my bag with my shin-guards and gloves on one of the benches that they had on the side of the dojo.

I grabbed a jump rope and did my three, three minute rounds without a break and then put the rope back while I waited for the teacher to announce what we were going to do today.

"Alright guys… Sakura and Tenten…what we're going to do today is we're going to take turns sparring with people…Sakura…could you try not to kill anybody here?"

She blinked a few times, smiling, and then she nodded her head, making an innocent face, probably to hide her evil grin below.

I laughed a bit.

He paired me up with this weird guy with slightly bushy eyebrows, black hair in a regular, plain old hairstyle, and big, dark-brown, almost black eyes.

They placed me in the ring and then the bell rung, and I was off with my speed.

I went to the left, and then to the right, then to the left and punched him dead in the face, in the nose.

He fell backward and then got up quickly as I smirked and dodged a kick here and there and maybe a punch or two.

I flipped backward, kicking him in the jaw and then turning on my hands to kick him in the face, hearing the slapping noise his cheek made when my foot connected with it.

I laughed a bit as I flipped back onto my feet and saw him hit the ground.

He got up, wiping some blood from his lips and holding his gloved hands in front of his face.

I rolled my eyes as he kicked me once, and then growled lowly when I realized he'd kicked my ass…like literally kicked me in the ass.

And then he did it again, smirking this time.

I kicked him on the inside of the leg and smirked as he grunted out in pain.

He kicked me in the ass a couple more times and that's when I lost it.

"DAMMIT MAN CAN YOU LIKE _NOT_ KICK ME IN THE ASS!" I punched him in the face and knocked him down, and then got on top of him and…how to put this simply…I KICKED HIS ASS!

I punched him anywhere and everywhere and I even kneed him in the face a couple times. He pushed me off and got up and I went to kick him in the place where it hurts most but the teacher stopped my kick right before it got him.

He pushed it back to where it was supposed to be and gave me a disappointed look. I just glared at my sparring partner as he breathed heavily.

And then I did the weirdest thing ever done in that situation. I laughed.

I was in a classroom with Sakura, and a whole bunch of sweaty, killer, kickboxing champion men and I was laughing my ass off.

I wrapped an arm around my waist as I flipped over the ropes of the ring and told Sakura to go in with her partner. She just gave me the funniest 'WTF' look as she stepped in, with her partner on the other side, who I immediately recognized as Lee.

"LEE!" He grinned at me and nodded as he got into his stance.

Neither him nor Sakura were wearing gloves…so I had a feeling that this would hurt them both…mostly Lee.

**Sakura**

"Center of the ring." I walked over to Lee slowly. "Touch gloves." I complied. "And…fight!" I smirked as I punched him in the face.

He just frowned a bit as he skid back.

He then smirked at me and then he was gone from my sight, off somewhere. He didn't seem to be anywhere, at least I thought so. That is…until I felt a pain in my back.

I turned to see if he was there, but he wasn't. I felt a leg come close to kicking me in the face and I blocked it quickly.

He was fast, probably faster than Tenten.

He disappeared from view again and I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I calculated everything in my head. An approximate speed, and an approximated time lapse between his first attack and second attack was enough to know when he was going to strike next.

I ignored the kick to the back of my head as I continued to calculate. And then I turned and punched Lee straight in the face.

He flew back and hit his head on the ropes in the ring as I smirked at him. "Well gee Lee, you were pretty fast but not fast enough to escape my fists." He smiled up at me dazedly. "Ah…no worries Sakura-chan, I'll improve my speed and watch, someday I will get you."

I laughed a bit. "Lee you're crazy, you won't be able to beat me." And then he said the thing that ticked me off the most.

"Oh no, I mean you will be my girlfriend one day." I blinked and stared at him and the whole world fell to hell.

I screamed out in anger at his sudden declaration.

"I WILL NEVER BE YOUR GIRLFRIEND!" I ran forward to punch him but somebody jumped into the ring and restrained me. Make it four somebodies.

It was Tenten, Temari, Ino, and Hinata. Great. I was still aiming to punch Lee while they all struggled to hold me back. I wasn't letting him off that easy just because he was nice. What he said was uncalled for and dead up embarrassing.

I turned my back on him and crossed my arms, letting out a loud huff.

I absolutely hated to be held back but for the sake that we needed him to kick Orochimaru's ass I'd let him live.

"Alright fine I'll leave him alone…BUT ONE MORE STUNT LIKE THAT AND I'LL KICK YOUR ASS LEE! CHA!"

Yeah…there goes my inner.

**Tenten**

I laughed a bit as Sakura sulked in anger in a corner. She was so effing funny when she was angry, and on top of that when her deepest, inner thoughts came out, her hair spiked up on the ends…

----xXAfter ClassXx----

I yawned a bit as I grabbed my bag from the benches and slipped on my shoes.

I looked up a bit, feeling someone watching me, and then I looked all the way up at one of the few people I didn't expect to see so soon after moving here.

"Matsuri!" I grinned wildly at her as she grabbed me and pulled me into a hug, her shoulder length brown hair swishing, and her teal eyes closed as she laughed with me.

She let me go and looked at me.

"Hmmm…you still look the same!"

"It's only been a two weeks Matsuri."

She grinned. "I know!" I rolled my eyes silently. "So…what are you doing here?"

She then turned serious. "Alright Tenten…let's get down to business, go round up the other girls so I don't have to repeat myself."

I nodded and silently walked over to where Hinata was slipping on her platinum-colored flats. "Hina-chan, Matsuri's here, waiting at the front door, and she says that she needs to talk to us so go meet her while I go get Ino and Temari…Can you please get Sakura?"

She nodded with a small smile plastered on her face and I smiled back as I walked into Temari's jiu-jitsu class.

"Tema-chan…let's go. Gaara's girl is waiting at the front door." Her whole face brightened up as she slung her bag over her shoulder. "Matsuri's here?"

I nodded. "Yup…go meet her there."

She nodded, her four fluffy bunches swishing as she jogged off to the front of the dojo.

I didn't even have to walk into the next room because Ino just popped up from a curtain and smiled at me.

"Hi Ten-chan! Where's Tema-chan?" I pointed behind me. "She just went to go see Matsu-chan. She's at the front of the dojo."

"Matsu-chan's here?" I nodded again and she ran past me eagerly. Jeez, two weeks without seeing one person and you go nuts when seeing them again.

I rolled my eyes, smiling a bit, and then walked to the front of the dojo myself. I saw all the girls gathered there.

"Alright…so what did you need to tell us?"

"Why don't we go to the car first? I can't afford to have anyone listening here. There might be some spies…"

I narrowed my eyes as I looked around and saw a guy with spiked, blue hair and a malicious grin staring at us.

I turned around and walked out of there faster than a powerwalker would.

I popped into the passenger's side while Ino, Matsuri, Sakura, and Hinata crammed in the back. Temari grinned back at them as she hopped into the driver's seat.

"Comfy?" She laughed a bit. "Perfectly cozy." Matsuri replied sarcastically, with a grimace.

"Alright, alright! Matsuri! What was it that you were going to tell us?" She turned serious again. "Oh right!"

"Well, my gang, Gaara-kun's gang, and Kankuro-kun's gang all raided one of Orochimaru's hide-outs and we found out some very valuable information."

"Which is?"

"Well…for one thing…he plans to take over Japan all at once with his entire gang. And for another, he has a meeting with the other three gangs as to when they're gonna attack us for their 'respect,'" she made air quotes here, "and almost everyone will be at the meeting."

I grinned, knowing what she was thinking. "So you think we and Akuri Kaze should sneak in."

She nodded. "Precisely. But you guys have to keep it in the highest regards of secrecy. Don't let any fan-girls, fan-boys, teachers, or any of the other gangs' members know about it. Alright?" I nodded, as did the rest of my gang.

"Alright girls, instead of your knives, have your guns ready. Matsuri, when is the meeting?" She put a finger to her chin. "Um…next Friday at about five…it'll last an hour and a half, so you have to be able to get to the fifteenth floor without Orochimaru suspecting anything and without the guards getting a hold of any of you. Luckily for us though, I heard that the walls are sound proof and that the only sound that can get past those walls is the alarm so as long as none of them ring it…you girls and the other guys…should be fine."

I grinned, feeling excited. "Great…so we have to tell Akuri Kaze and train them with guns now."

The girls nodded. "Instead of splitting up like we usually do, we'll group up and show them how to do it…seeing as yours truly has perfect accuracy I can show them how to calculate stuff and hit a target."

They nodded again and I looked at Matsuri. "Thanks Matsu-chan. You always pull through for us." She smiled back politely and then an evil grin crossed her face. "Say Tenten…when are you girls going to introduce me to the other guys?"

I blinked. "Uh…we can go right now if you want?"

Her entire face lit up. "REALLY?!" I nodded, smiling, and she giggled out in delight as Temari pulled out of the driveway manically and onto the highway.

----

It was the next day and already after school.

I was waiting for Akuri Kaze to get here. I'd already gone and changed behind a tree. My gun was hidden deep in the pocket of my baggy blue jeans and I had a black sweater over the matching shirt and my black Uptowns were hidden by the jeans.

I had to go dark today for just…okay so maybe I didn't have to but I wanted to.

The girls were waiting behind me, impatiently and in their own outfits as well.

We were all wearing baggy pants, however, to hide the shiny new AK's that were hidden in our pockets.

Sakura was in baggy black pants with deep pockets that had buttons on them for security. She'd thrown on a red short-sleeved shirt and a white sweater over that with black, white, and red Jordan's on her feet.

Ino was wearing the same exact thing as Sakura, with the exception that her shirt and sneakers were purple.

Temari was wearing baggy black shorts just above the knee with the suspenders hanging down. She'd thrown on a tight, green shirt and a white sweater on over that. Her Jordan's were similar to those of Sakura and Ino's with the slight color change.

Hinata had just come in baggy gray sweats and a white shirt with white Uptowns. She had her gun hidden in her pocket and for once she seemed comfortable with having it there.

Finally, Akuri Kaze showed up, dressed in their own outfits.

Neji was in a tank top with an unbuttoned black shirt over that, blue jean shorts, and black and white Jordan's.

Kiba was in a green shirt with a black doggy paw in the middle and 'who let the dogs out' written in graffiti style on it. He had thrown on his own pair of baggy, sagging jeans, and a pair of black, white, and green Uptowns.

Sasuke was in a black tee over a gray, long-sleeved muscle shirt and jeans. He wore black and grey converse.

Lee was in his usual green, basketball-like attire.

Shikamaru was in a red shirt with a white skull in the middle, jeans, and white uptowns.

Naruto was in an orange polo shirt and baggy, sagging jeans - screw that they were all wearing baggy sagging jeans…which I had to admit was kinda hot – and white Uptowns.

So today we all looked fresh.

I smiled as serenely as possible at them. "Hi guys…you're late…and for that…"

I whipped out my black gun. "You'll be punished severely." Their eyes all widened as I laughed along with the girls.

"That was gold! You should've seen your faces!" They all grimaced and Sasuke and Neji even glared.

I calmed myself and then breathed heavily. "Alrighty then. Today, we're learning how to use guns because of a certain mission scheduled for next Friday at five. Orochimaru and the three gangs are having a meeting about their striking date and we're going to go and listen in to know by which day to be ready."

They nodded as I whipped out guns from a book bag for each of them.

"The only problem is that we have to get to the fifteenth floor without Orochimaru noticing us and getting past all of the guards and trust me when I say that there's a lot."

They all just looked at me blankly.

I sighed. "Alright, alright let's get to work. Ino, set up the targets, would you?" She nodded and hung them up on a couple trees, some farther than others.

I picked up my gun, loaded it, and looked at Akuri Kaze. "Alright guys, I can assure you that by the end of this week, you'll be able to do this."

And then I went into my 'perfect sync mode' with my weapon and hit every target in a matter of seconds, right in the dead center.

I turned to smile at them all. They were all gazing at me in shock. I grinned widely.

Neji stepped forward first. "Give me my gun." I looked at Ino, who tossed it to him softly. I grinned as he eyed it slowly. It was a silver pistol, nice.

He smirked a bit as he cocked it upward. "So this one is mine?" I nodded, grinning.

"It's nice." He rotated it in his hands a bit. "Nice shade of silver, smooth coating, clean, and on top of all that, in mint condition."

I smiled a bit as he slowly placed his finger on the trigger and pointed it at the target on the tree. "Go ahead, try it Neji." He looked at me, an eyebrow raised, and then he shot the pistol, hitting the target in the third ring going out from the center. That was pretty good.

"Nice Neji!"

Ino tossed me a black revolver from the bag and I tossed it to Sasuke.

"Thanks…" He slowly walked over to where Neji had been standing and aimed before he shot off his gun. He didn't waste any time, now did he?

He smirked a bit as it landed a little closer to the center than Neji's.

"Look Hyuga, mine was closer to Tenten's than yours." Neji just rolled his beautiful eyes…ahem…did I say beautiful I meant pretty…nice…moon-like eyes.

"Yeah, but you were closer and the wind wasn't blowing." Sasuke smirked. "That has nothing to do with it. The bullet's speed is fast enough to have it's own wind and air resistance against the breeze and it is too fast to curve."

I looked at Neji, who was twitching a bit. Sasuke had a big point and it looked like this argument was over.

Neji was a little persistent however. "Yes but if you throw it at a certain angle of trajectory then the bullet can curve."

Sasuke smirked again though. "And if that were true, then why didn't you do it?"

Neji just grunted out a 'hn' and turned his head the other way.

I giggled a bit, grinning. He was such a little kid!

Sasuke slowly walked back to where Akuri Kaze was standing and Naruto bounced up to Ino. "Where's mine? Where's mine?!"

Ino rolled her ice-blue eyes and reached into her bag, pulling out another black gun, an AK this time.

He grinned as he took it into his hands and pointed it at the same target.

"I bet that I'll beat Sasuke-teme!"

I rolled my eyes.

Naruto slowly pulled back the trigger, the gun making a hole almost instantaneously in the plastic target, on the largest last ring.

He pouted a bit as I laughed and Hinata giggled. Sasuke was smirking.

I saw Sakura blush out of the corner of my eye and an idea sprang up.

"Hey Saku-chan, tell me why every time Sasuke smirks you blush?" She blushed harder as she glared at me.

"Tenten shut the hell up! At least my favorite pastime isn't staring at Neji's ass!" Both of Neji's eyebrows rose. I blushed a deeper shade of red than her, out of embarrassment and out of anger.

"Sakura you whore! At least I didn't have a pervy dream of kissing a guy with a chicken ass for hair!"

She glared at me and whipped out her pink revolver. "You bitch, you better run, because if I catch you then you're going down!"

I rolled my eyes as I ran, laughing.

I swerved through the trees, dodging the bullets that I heard coming from behind me.

I whipped out my own black AK 47 and shot at her a few times, missing on purpose, so as to not hurt her.

She smirked and I shot it so that it would clip her leg.

When it did she flipped over, did three somersaults, a split, a headstand, and an 80's street dancing spin before landing with her leg pulled up to her chest by both arms.

She was already examining it.

I bet I knew what she was thinking too.

'Fuck crying and complaining I'm gonna examine this shit.'

Yep…I just knew…

**Sakura**

'_Fuck crying and complaining, I'm gonna examine this shit.'_

I looked at how deep the wound was, and when I saw that it was still at the red meat, then I realized I was fine.

I stood up slowly, ignoring the blood stain on my pants and aiming my gun at Tenten.

"You dumbass! Wait till I get my hands on you."

I tried to run after her…but that hurt too much so I just took a bunch of random shots, hoping that one of them would clip her, and one did.

It scratched her arm and she laughed instead of screaming out in pain.

I had a feeling that everyone was thinking we were psycho.

**Neji**

They were psycho.

Completely and utterly psycho.

Tenten had just gotten clipped by a bullet and she was rolling around on the grass, laughing about it.

Sakura was grinning a bit as she cleaned up her bloody leg.

I walked up to Tenten slowly, looking down at her with my eyebrows raised.

She blinked and stared up at me, face red, most likely from all of her laughing and lack of air intake.

I reluctantly put out a hand to help her up, blushing a bit, and she grabbed it.

I pulled her up quickly and retracted my hand as soon as she was standing. I cleared my throat slightly, and then I coughed, looking at her slowly.

She blinked a few times as she stared at me, and I felt my cheeks grow a bit red.

She seemed to have noticed and what she did seemed like something that Naruto would do. She placed a hand on my forehead and blinked a few more times.

"Neji…are you sick? You're turning really red and you're face is all hot." She moved her hand down to my neck and I tensed.

"Hmm…you're neck isn't hot so maybe you're turning into Hinata and blushing about any little thing."

I snapped my head away, instantly mad, hell enraged.

"Don't you compare me with her. She isn't anything but a nuisance. She's weak, futile…useless."

I had no idea why I said those things. I guess it was just a way of me venting anger, a way of making me feel good…

She hung her head and I saw Tenten's disappointed and angry face.

Okay, that face scared me, in surprisingly a kinda…and I would never say this out loud…sexy way…and at the same time…threatening like she was when she fought Sai the first day I met her.

She walked toward me slowly, one foot directly in front of the other.

The grass crunched beneath her feet as she stopped right in front of me, gun held loosely in her hand.

"Neji…" She started off with a sickly sweet smile.

"What did I say about picking on Hinata?" I rolled my eyes. "To not do it?" She nodded.

"Yup…or I'll kick your ass to Kingdom Come!" She cocked up her black AK at me and smirked a bit. I looked down at it emotionlessly, and that just ticked her off even more.

She backed up and pointed it at me, at my chest more like it.

"Want this to go into your heart because I know the exact place where the heart is and I have great calculations that I will make a fatal incision if I want."

I gulped inwardly. She was deadly with a weapon when she needed to be…

"Hn."

She sighed loudly and then just walked over to the bag, pulled out a couple guns and handed them to Kiba and Lee.

Lee shot at the target first and he got it a little closer to the center than Naruto did but it was still far from mine and Sasuke's.

Kiba shot it and got it in the same ring as Naruto, who laughed his head off while Kiba sulked.

Tenten smiled a bit.

Cue the dramatic wind. Hey look, it happened. And something about it made me see Tenten in a different light…like literally in a different light.

The sun was now coming down between the trees and it illuminated her face even more, making me just want to take her in my arms and hold her close.

I don't know why I kissed her the other day during gym class, when I tried to calm her down. All I know is that it was Heaven to me and something clicked.

I just had the instinct to do it. I wasn't conscious of my actions and even if I was, I probably wouldn't stop myself. It's something about that girl that just drives me wild.

I blinked again, feeling the burn in my eyes. And then I stared at Tenten as she took another shot at the target.

She then scratched at the wound that Sakura gave her, laughing a bit as she saw the dried blood, most likely remembering how she'd got it.

It was like she was the most carefree person in the world.

It wasn't fair. She was all happy and careless and I was just too polite for my own good at times. Being a part of the Hyuga household had its advantages, true, but it had a lot more disadvantages.

I held back a sigh as I saw Sakura take a shot and miss, and then Ino miss her chance at the target as well.

For some reason, no matter how pretty all of the girls were, I didn't like any of them.

I didn't like Hinata because she was my cousin.

I didn't like Sakura because she was too…I don't know…murderous.

I didn't like Ino because she was too…crazy

I didn't like Temari because she was too demanding…

But for some reason I did and do like Tenten and I have no clue how it happened in so little time. In only two weeks, I'd begun to have feelings for her or at least I thought I did so I could only imagine what would happen at the end of a month. I could only imagine what could happen in two months; four months; eight months; a year.

I realized it was my turn to shoot and I shot at the target, getting it closer to the center this time.

I turned and just walked away, for no particular reason. I didn't smirk, I didn't grin, I didn't smile.

I just turned and walked away.

Maybe I just needed some time to think.

**Tenten**

Something was wrong…

Neji took his turn, got it close to the center, and didn't smirk, smile, grin…anything. He just walked off with an emotionless demeanor.

I frowned as Sasuke stepped up to take his turn again.

"Girls, I'll be back I'm going to go get Neji because he just walked off with no damn reason."

They nodded.

I turned to the direction that Neji had headed and darted after him, running my fastest to catch up.

Although it seemed that no matter how fast I ran, he kept getting further away. And I didn't mean it in a metaphor I meant it literally.

He had one mean power walk.

It wasn't until we neared a small lake in the middle of a forest that I began catching up to him and he stopped, causing me to bump into his solid back.

He turned to look at me, a look of surprise on his face.

"Tenten?"

I blinked and nodded. He reached out a hand and helped me up. I smiled and thanked him politely.

"How long have you been following me?"

I grinned. "The whole way here."

He rolled his eyes and smirked a bit.

"And you followed me why?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, you seemed out of it so I just followed you to make sure that you were going to be okay."

"And why do you worry about me being okay?"

I pondered on that.

Why did I worry about that?

Was it because he was Hinata's cousin or was it just because he was a friend that I'd grown close to? Was it because I liked him? Okay, maybe that one was a possibility…but that didn't matter.

I didn't know what mattered. I didn't know what made me worry about him.

So I shrugged. "I don't know."

His face froze for a fraction of a second and then he turned his head to look at the sparkling lake in front of us.

"Tenten…why'd you follow me here? Isn't it usually rude to follow someone when they need to think."

I rolled my eyes. "And how do I know when you need to think?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, make an analysis or something." I rolled my eyes. "Ever figure that you're hard to read?"

He smirked a bit and then sat down on the sweet grass near the lake.

"You can go back now."

I rolled my eyes and sat down next to him. "And what if I said I didn't want to?"

He looked at me, an incredulous look on his face. I grinned a bit. "I don't like to leave people alone, they might do something that will take them away from me forever…kinda like my parents did."

I felt a pang in my chest when I said parents and I know my voice cracked, but I smiled nonetheless.

I could hear Neji "hn" and then he put a finger up to my face. I felt my cheeks burn red as he pressed the finger to my eye and brought it back.

"You're crying."

I looked down at his now wet finger, and my eyes widened. I felt a tear roll down my cheek and I put my hand up to wipe it.

He just stared at me and I blinked a few times to keep more tears from falling. Tears were a sign of weakness and I wouldn't let it show.

He turned to stare at the sparkling lake.

"What happened with your parents?"

I blinked a few more times, retaining the tears. I breathed shakily. "I'd rather not say…" He 'hn'ed again and then turned to look at me.

"You know, if you want to cry, you can go ahead." I blinked a few times and then nodded slightly before saying, "But that's the whole point. I don't want to. Crying is a sign of weakness."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Says who?"

"Says me. The person who cried so much when her parents died and people accused her of it when she couldn't do anything to save them."

He smiled for once, edging a little closer, and then he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I blinked and looked up at him, feeling my tears pile up and stay in the corner of my eyes.

"So that's why you think it isn't okay to cry because of the past?"

I nodded.

"Whatever happened to your motto? 'Live life, no regrets, whatever happens, happens.'"

I shrugged. "It got old and retired?"

He laughed and I hung my head. "I don't know. It's hard to know what happened to my motto. And it's hard to know why I feel so comfortable around you. It's hard to know why I'm so goofy around you especially, and why I feel so happy when I'm with you."

He wrapped his other arm around me.

I didn't pull away.

He pulled me to his chest.

I didn't push against him, like I did with Zaku.

He put his lips to mine.

And I didn't not kiss back, like I had done with Zaku.

I kissed him back for no reason. I needed none. I just felt it. It was instinct to do it, like my lips belonged with his. It was like my troubles melted away for the moment and I was completely free of them.

It was like when I kissed him, the whole world stopped and there was nobody but us.

He pushed me to the ground softly, landing on top of me, and kissed me a little more aggressively, not that I minded.

I kissed back just as aggressively, wrapping my arms around his neck.

His tongue ran over my bottom lip and I refused as a sign to tease him. He bit my lip and I gasped. He took the opportunity to stick his tongue inside my mouth. If he was gonna kiss me, he could at least do it in a way that Zaku didn't do it…although not that I minded.

And he was a great kisser.

And I didn't care that his tongue was in my mouth, as a matter of fact I enjoyed it. I know it sounds wrong but it's true. I kissed back, his tongue wrestling with mine in a fight for dominance.

There was no time to deem anyone as winner because we pulled apart from lack of air. We needed our oxygen. We'd forgotten how to breathe for a minute.

I was staring straight at his face, more into those eyes that gave him away completely, even when his entire face was emotionless.

He had a hint of amusement in them.

I blushed a bit, realizing that he was still on top of me. He had his hands on both sides of my head so basically I was stuck under Neji Hyuga.

Yeah…that's the only way to phrase it and it still sounds wrong.

I blinked a few times. "Neji?" He gave me a cute smirk. "Yeah?" I blushed a deep red. "Can you get off of me please?" He pushed himself down on top of me harder and I blushed even harder. "N-Neji?"

He chuckled a bit. "I'm pretty comfortable with the way that we are." I turned my head to the side in embarrassment and I felt a tug on my buns and the no buns at all. I felt my hair out and then I felt Neji freeze and roll off of me.

I blinked and at him. "What is it?"

He rubbed an eye and then kept on staring. I sat up, feeling my hair brushing a bit lower than my shoulders. It was starting to grow back already?

He suddenly smiled at me and I blushed, kinda angered at the same time though. "What Neji?" He pointed to my hair. "You look…pretty with your hair out…for once you look beautiful." I punched him in the arm. "What do you mean for once?!" He laughed.

I crossed my arms, embarrassed and flattered at the same time. That was uncalled for…and yet strangely it made me happy inside.

I pulled on the sleeve of my jacket and I felt myself blush. So I got complimented by Neji Hyuga…what was so special about that?

I smiled slightly. Okay maybe it was special because he's sexy and cute and so fuckin' awesome…Tenten…get a hold of yourself…stop fan-girling him.

I laid myself back down and just looked up at the sky, which was pretty cloudless today, and sunny, but not that warm seeing as it was September still.

I felt Neji lay down next to me and I couldn't help but inwardly smile. It was like we were getting along like best friends or something…not that I minded…it was actually fun.

I felt his lips on my cheek and I blushed.

I stood up all of a sudden, remembering that we weren't alone.

"Neji…we should go back to training alright?"

He stood up too and nodded once at me. I blushed as he stood a bit closer than usual. It was hardly noticeable to anyone else but I knew.

I blinked a bit as we made our way back. Once or twice his hand would lightly brush mine and I would blush and he would smirk.

Okay…maybe we were flirting…but maybe we were just being friendly…although…the kisses were probably a little much…

But I couldn't help it…he's a great kisser…

* * *

_Kinda short neh?_

Anyway thanks to all that read and review please!


	8. Raid

**Chapter Eight**

**The Raid**

**Hinata**

The week had gone by pretty fast. I wasn't expecting it to. We'd all become even better at handling our guns. The guys had gotten it down pact and we girls had some extra time to become even better at it.

We'd skipped school, all of us, to rest up for today because we would need the energy. We were all prepped and ready to go. It was currently four thirty and we were waiting on Ino. All of the boys were here already and Ino was being picky.

She couldn't decide on wearing a black tank top with black cut-off gloves or a black long-sleeved shirt with glove like ending sleeves.

I sighed and sat down on one of the sofas in the room. This was going to take a while longer. I could hear Sakura and Tenten shouting at her. "Ino! Hurry up there's basically no difference except that one shows more skin!"

I heard Ino's pearly voice as well. "Awe but I don't wanna put one on and then be thinking about how it would have been to have to other on!"

I could imagine Sakura rolling her eyes. "Come here Ino!"

I froze as I heard a bang, a scream, a crash, and some more screams.

And then it suddenly got silent. The boys were all staring at me and Temari. She shrugged and I blushed. Naruto sat down next to me. "Man, she takes forever doesn't she?" I nodded. "Most of the times."

I heard footsteps coming down the stairs and I smiled as I saw Ino in her long-sleeved gloves shirt. She was pouting.

"I could've made that decision."

"Then why didn't ya Ino-pig?" Sakura glared at her as Tenten rolled her eyes. "Not the time girls, we have a raid to get to in case you didn't know let's get our butts in gear c'mon."

I stood up abruptly. "Wait!" They turned to look at me. "What was all that upstairs?" Tenten laughed nervously and scratched the back of her neck.

"Ahem…well you see, I sort of got pissed and shot my gun at Ino but Sakura tripped her out of the way and she hit her knee on the drawer and the vase on it fell and broke." I sighed.

"Okay…" She suddenly grabbed a hold of me and squeezed tight. "There's no need to worry we'll help you out Hinata! We'll help clean it up!"

I smiled. "Thanks." Neji cleared his throat. "Can we go now? It's four forty already and the meeting starts at five."

Tenten turned her head away and Neji smirked. She nodded. "Yeah…sure…" I was pretty sure I wasn't the only one that saw that.

She hurried out the door and Temari was out just as fast. "Tenten if you get a single scratch on my car I'ma kick your ass to Kingdom Come!"

I giggled as Sakura and Ino laughed. Naruto joined them and Neji smirked.

I walked out of the door, getting into Temari's car in the seat right next to Tenten. She was looking out the window, seeming distanced. She was out of it right now. Was it the smirk that Neji gave her?

I heard Naruto climb in. He sat down next to me and Sasuke try to next. "Dobe I can't fit! Move over!" He argued back. "I can't! Hinata-chan is there!"

"Well then put her on your lap or something!"

I blushed a deep scarlet, as did Naruto, and Sasuke watched us emotionlessly. Tenten was listening now and so was Temari…well she was laughing actually. Tenten sighed. "Just do it. Whatever works."

So Naruto sat down where I was and I had to sit down on his lap. I was blushing like mad. This wasn't funny it was actually kind of comfortable though…

Sasuke was smirking at Naruto, who was glaring at him. Sakura came in next. "Sasuke pick up your butt because you're either sitting on my lap or in between my legs."

He turned to look at her with a face that looked disgusted. She blinked. She was really innocent wasn't she? Even I knew the double meaning in those words. "What?"

"I'm sitting on your lap or _in between your legs_?" She blushed as she realized the wrong meaning in her words. Just the bottom part like my calves dummy!" She punched him on the head, muttered pervert, and climbed in. "Why don't you sit on my lap?" She blushed a bit. "Because I'm heavy…"

That was a lie. We were all able to carry Sakura. She was light. Like a toothpick. I heard Sasuke scoff. "Yeah right. Heavy is when you weigh as much as Tenten or Temari." Now Tenten leaned behind both me and Naruto and punched him on the head and Temari followed immediately after. They were both fuming.

Sasuke sighed and pulled her onto him, rubbing his head a bit. He kept his arms around her waist, restraining her. She blushed lightly.

Shikamaru climbed into the front seat next to Temari, well on the same seat as her…with the exception that she was more forward so she could get to the gas. They looked uncomfortable seeing as he had to sit sideways to fit. He had his feet hanging off of the side of the cup-holder and a little onto Ino's lap, seeing as she was in the passenger's side.

She laughed a bit. "Shika-kun you are so stupid! You may be a genius but you don't seem smart enough to get you and Temari comfortable!" She giggled cutely. Out of all of us, she got closest to Shikamaru in the way that a brother would be with his sister.

He rolled his eyes and sighed. "What a pain."

She laughed again and Temari's eyebrow twitched at his usual phrase.

I heard Tenten gasp and I looked to my left to see Neji climb into the gap between her seat and the back of Temari's seat. So in other words, his head was between her legs [her calves]. She was blushing as he looked up at her. "What?"

"Why'd you choose to sit there?" He sighed. "Because if I sat between Uchiha's legs, I know he would be kicking me and every time I look up I'd see something sticking out of his pants…I know how he reacts with Sakura." He smirked at Sasuke as Sakura nearly fainted on him. Sasuke was glaring at him and then his face lightened all of a sudden.

"Well that's okay because I know how you react around Tenten." Neji froze and then he replied. "And how would that be?" Sasuke smirked. "Someone tends to get _excited_ whenever they see her or are near her." Neji's face twisted into one of disgust as Tenten threw her face into her hands and leaned forward.

Naruto was laughing. I could feel his chest rumbling and I blushed lightly.

"Uchiha! You'd better hope that I spare your embarrassment Uchiha because I heard what you were saying in your sleep last night…" Sasuke blinked and looked at him with a puzzled expression. "And that would be?" Neji smirked this time. "You were moaning her name in your sleep." Sasuke tightened his arms around Sakura's waist and she blushed from how that cut off her air a bit.

"Well at least I wasn't making-out with Tenten at training last week!" Neji perked up a bit and Tenten lifted up her head. "What would make you say that?" Neji lost his air of arrogance. So it was true?

"The length of time that it took you to get back to training when she went after you…and the look on your face tells me that it's true!"

Neji glared at him and retorted with one that I knew Sakura would kill him for. "At least I don't stare at Sakura and imagine her naked when she's not looking!" Sasuke didn't care he smirked. "Hyuga."

"What?"

"You didn't deny it…"

Tenten had turned her head to look out the window and I could tell that she was blushing. And her hands were furled into fists, which was what she did whenever she heard something that was true but she never wanted to admit it.

The car drove off when Kiba climbed into the same position between Ino's calves in the passenger's seat under the air-bag and glove compartment part and Lee sat between Sasuke's calves.

Neji glared at him. "Who says I have to?" I giggled and he turned to glare at me. I felt something within me, something in my heart. It dropped down to my stomach all of a sudden. I turned to hide my face and the only spot was in Naruto's shirt. I saw Sakura throw him a glare and then she turned her face to look at me. "Awe! Isn't that cute!" I blushed and I was guessing that Naruto was too.

I placed my hands over my face, hiding it even more as everyone laughed.

Something told me that this was gonna be a long car ride…

**Tenten**

I was blushing and I knew that. Sasuke had no idea how right he was. Because we had in fact been making-out last week during training and the week before that during gym class.

It was like he was there, recording it and watching it over for blackmail. It was not cool how he guessed something like that.

I licked my lips, my mouth dry all of a sudden. I felt Neji ease up a bit as the topic was brought over to Naruto and Hinata. Sasuke didn't seem to want to let us go that easily. He laughed.

"Ha! You see how calm Neji got when the topic wasn't him and Tenten. He most definitely likes her! You can see it on his face." I turned to glare at him, and he just smirked at me. "You guys did make out last week, didn't you? You haven't denied it either Tenten." I crossed my arms as I replied. "We didn't. I denied it." He was still smirking. "What is it?" He lessened his grip on Sakura. "You're blushing."

I blushed harder and turned my head away again. "So…I tend to blush when I'm accused of lies…" Ino laughed a bit. "Tenten that was a lie! You only blush when you're accused of liking someone or when someone says your embarrassing secrets out loud! Like remember that time in middle school when you accidentally walked into – "

I slapped my hand over her mouth, having to lean over Neji, which wasn't my best idea. Now his head was really in between my legs…well on the bright side, his face was in the back of Temari's seat. "Shut up Ino! Don't you dare say anything about that!"

She glared at me and I put my hand down…until she got me.

"Mind Transfer Jutsu!"

I gasped as I felt her cold spirit surge through me. She was pretty damn mad if this shit was this cold. I was only vaguely conscious of what she said.

"I'm Tenten and when I was in the seventh grade I walked into the boy's bathroom and caught one of the guys peeing!"

I barely heard her. The bad thing about her jutsu was that things didn't sink in until a few seconds after she left the body. I couldn't force her out either. Only Sakura's inner thoughts could do that.

I felt a slow wind and heard the others' laughter.

"And not only that, I stayed staring at him and he didn't bother putting it away either!"

I was getting mad though now that I was somewhat aware of what she had said. I was fighting her mentally.

_Ino get the hell out of my body dammit! You don't belong here! It's too pretty to be yours!_

_Ha ha ha Tenten you are so funny! I'm just sharing funny childhood stories!_

I hope you know that you'll be completely useless if you keep this up long

_I've improved since the last time I've used it on you!_

_Whatever just get out of me Ino before I find my gun and stick a bullet through my brain dammit!_

_Then you'll only be killing yourself_

_Yes but whatever happens to your current vessel happens to you as well…_

_  
So?  
_

_So if I die you die too…_

…_Crap…fine!_

I felt a slow release as she exited my body. I blinked a few times, in a daze as she finally went to her body completely. She was glaring at me and I was getting my thoughts together. And then it all came together and I lost it. I blushed brighter than any fire-truck hit by tomatoes.

"INO! I SHOULD KILL YOU FOR THAT! WHY THE HELL DO YOU HAVE TO BE SUCH A CHATTERBOX?!" I whipped out a pocket knife and Neji had to stand up and hold me back, which was a mistake seeing as Temari just happened to slam her foot down on the break after this lousy-driving fucker nearly crashed into someone else.

So instead of holding me back, I dropped my knife in surprise and fell against Neji with his back pressed up against Temari's seat and my lips wide open against his.

It was like the world just didn't want to help me today.

I heard Lee laugh and Ino howl with laughter while Sasuke began his own laugh and Hinata giggled. Naruto and Temari, however, were the loudest of all.

I pushed myself off of him, blushing profusely. And then I saw it. The one thing that would keep their attention off me and Neji. I laughed at Temari while she laughed at me and I felt everyone stop and turn to look at me as I plopped in my seat, shaking with laughter.

"What is it Tenten?"

I pointed to Shikamaru, who was sleeping on Temari's boob lazily. He had his arm wrapped around her stomach and Temari hadn't even noticed.

She blinked as she stared down at it and then she screamed as she pushed down on the gas pedal. "Shikamaru I'm gonna kill you!"

Neji smirked as the girls with the exception of Temari, laughed.

She stopped the car and I lurched forward. "We're here!" She said moodily before yanking the keys out of the ignition and stomping out the car, slamming her door.

I laughed a bit as I opened the door and climbed out after Neji.

I heard Hinata come out after me along with Naruto and Sasuke and Sakura right after. Shikamaru, Kiba, Lee, and Ino had gotten out from the other side.

I looked up at the cracked building, immediately becoming serious. I pulled my black cut-off gloves further over my hands as I looked at the grimy place. In front of it were the cars of Ami and Karin, not to mention Sai and Zaku.

I didn't have to worry about any cars. I knew full well that this section of town was abandoned and that was precisely the reason that Orochimaru picked it.

I crossed the street, hearing everyone come behind me. I halted at the tall, wooden doors and smirked as I saw how it was hanging on its hinges. "Sakura…" She walked up. "Gotcha already."

She breathed in heavily as she stood in front of the door and pulled a bobby pin out of Ino's hair. Ino smirked as Sakura picked the lock and smirked satisfied when she heard the _click_. I stood up and slowly pushed the door in. It squeaked quietly. I peered in, looking around and smirking as I saw no one in this hallway.

I felt a slap on the back of my ass and I turned and punched Sakura in the face. I lost it. "WHAT THE HELL SAKURA! THIS IS NOT THE TIME!" And that's when all the guards came out. I clapped both hands over my mouth. The first one was big and burly. I whipped out my AK and shot him perfectly in the stomach, where I was guessing the liver should be. He dropped to the floor, a hand on his wound, and blood spilling out. That was the key for the rest of his body guards to attack.

I shot at them all, with perfect precision no matter how many of them there were or how fast I shot at them. I could do my calculations in less than a second. I smirked as I got another three and then turned to look at everyone. "I'm not the only person here that's against them you know." They all blinked and stared as I turned and shot another four guys. "FIGHT WITH ME DAMMIT!" They all nodded and pulled out their own weapons, and began shooting at the guards.

They missed a lot but they were doing pretty well, as I was until one of them snuck up behind me and knocked me off my feet. I rolled over and shot him in the leg and he fell down as well. I got up as quick as I could and shot at the next guy, kicking one behind me, and punching another on my side. I turned and shot the both of them in a rotating manner. I owed Neji that move. He showed it to me one day at the end of a training session.

I punched another in the temple and knocked him out and then turned to see the clear doorway to the next level. I turned to see everyone else caught up in fights. And there was a guard going straight for Neji and Neji hadn't even noticed. Those eyes of his should have been used right now but I guess he didn't want to use then.

I ran in a diagonal direction toward the guard to meet him at the mark. "Neji! Watch out!" He turned to look at me and I ran forward and knocked the guard off his feet with a blow to the face.

I pointed my gun straight at him and shot him in the chest. Blood seeped into his clothes and eventually he died. I turned to look at everyone. They were all staring at me, all of the guards down. I shrugged. "What?" They all just blinked. Neji was the only one that wasn't there. I blinked and looked to my right to see him there, just a few feet away. He was staring at me as well. I blinked a few times, and then blushed and looked to my left. I hated attention unless it was about something important…like this mission.

"What?" I repeated. "You saved him knowing that he was perfectly capable of saving himself. You like him." I rolled my eyes. "Now is not the time Sasuke! You and Sakura are perfect for each other! All you ever do is say shit at the wrong place and time dammit!" I crossed my arms and pouted for a split second and everyone laughed including Neji and Sasuke. That kinda lightened the distressed mood.

I got serious again. "Alright! Split into the before mentioned three or two man teams!" They all nodded.

Shikamaru, Ino, and Temari all scampered off to the right, taking one of the alternate paths to the meeting place. Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto all ran off to the left, taking another path. Kiba and Hinata left through another.

The reason for us splitting into groups was to eliminate any other body-guards so that they wouldn't spot us and hit the alarm. Thanks to the blue-prints that Shikamaru found on the internet we knew the whole place by heart. The meeting was being held in the old fifteenth floor employee lounge seeing as this place had been an office about twenty years ago.

Now it was just me with my best guy friend since middle school and Neji. I turned to look at them. "You guys ready? That was just the entrance. I can tell you right now, it's going to seem like a lot more guards now that there's only the three of us." They nodded and I smirked before turning back around, grabbing both of their hands, and walking down the next hallway.

**Sakura**

I ran down the hall with my gun at ready, not caring about the sound that my combat boots made against the floor. With my strength, Sasuke's speed, and Naruto's help, they would all be down in three minutes.

I turned the corner and shot at an unsuspecting body guard, successfully hitting him through the rib and into the lung. He would last about another couple seconds and die. I shot at a few others, clipping them or otherwise killing them, some instantly.

Sasuke was beating a few up and shooting at the rest and Naruto was hopping around shooting at anyone he knew was the enemy.

I punched one guard, flipped over another, kicked another upside the chin, rolled under him, tripped another, jumped up and flipped down from the air to kick another on the head. They were all unconscious with the exception of the one I'd kicked on the head. He was bleeding profusely and dying slowly and painfully.

I smirked down at him and ran to get the next few body guards.

I shot at few in the arms and legs so that they wouldn't be able to get me and I knocked more out with my deadly muscles. I laughed a bit as I kicked one in the face and punched another that was to my left. I grabbed one that was sneaking up behind me by the neck and flipped him over me before barraging him in the stomach and sending him into unconsciousness with blood dripping from the side of his mouth.

A particularly loud _**bang**_ caught my attention and I turned to look at Sasuke unconscious on the floor with his head bleeding a bit. He had tried to dodge a shot and it had clipped him on the head. I bit my lip as his hands dropped down to his abdomen.

I looked up to see his attacker and saw a man covered in bandages and long sleeves. Naruto had seen him and was now running at him. I had seen him around the school before, but I could never get his name. "DOSU! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" I guess that answered my internal question.

I watched as Naruto charged straight at him and knocked him in the face. Dosu got up quickly and shot at Naruto's leg, getting him there and knocking him off his feet. I gasped as I realized I was the only one that could fight these guys off.

I pulled the trigger and shot at Dosu, but missed when he jumped to the side and ran at me with a fist ready. I dodged it and tripped him before kicking him in the temple and knocking him out. I saw his eyes slowly close before I turned to face the remaining body-guards and among them was one I wasn't expecting.

Kin. The girl with the long black hair down to her ankles. Uh oh. I grabbed Sasuke and Naruto, slung each one over a shoulder, wincing at the weight, and ran past them, getting a couple scrapes from knives in the process. I whipped out my gun and shot a them a few dozen times, hitting a whole side of them.

I turned a corner and hid in an indent in the wall. I laid Naruto and Sasuke on their backs gently before I reached into the bag of medical supplies that was slung over my shoulder and pulled out some disinfectant, some bandages, and a pair of scissors.

I worked on Sasuke first, seeing as he was knocked out. Naruto was in heavy pain down in his leg, and there was blood staining his pants. I quickly disinfected Sasuke's wound, snipped some bandages dipped in peroxide, and them around his head to keep the parasites away. I then turned to Naruto and pulled up his pant leg to the wound. I gasped at how deep the bullet was. Seeing as he was so close to him, he got a full blast.

I reached back into the bag for some pliers and a knife. I looked up at his face and gulped. "Naruto. This is gonna hurt like hell but you'll be just fine after this okay?" He nodded. I smiled sadly and gently widened his wound on both sides, widened not deepened. I picked up the pliers and gently pulled the bullet out, ignoring Naruto's grunts, as they would only make me nervous. I frowned as I examined it. It was a typical bullet, nine millimeter. Small and deadly. I pulled out a few cotton balls and wet them with alcohol. I began disinfecting his wound, and wiping away the blood. He groaned in pain and clapped a hand over his mouth to stop a scream. The burning had begun. I stitched him up as fast as I could and quickly dipped the bandages in some peroxide that I had in a Tupperware bowl and wrapped them around his leg about half a dozen times.

He was panting now, his face flushed. I pressed my hand to his face and felt he was getting a fever. It was a side effect from the bullet and the irritation it had caused. I turned and felt Sasuke's forehead. He was hot too. I reached into my bag and pulled out two rags and dipped them in water that I had in another Tupperware bowl before placing one on each boys' forehead.

I heard footsteps and hastily put everything away, tidily and quickly. I peeked around the wall and saw that more of the guards had come this way, the ones from the next hallway. I turned back into the indent and gasped because down this hall I saw Lee coming down. He flashed a grin and jumped into the crowd of body guards, shouting "Leaf-hurricane!" I heard a few guards groan and fall back onto the ground.

I heard Lee's grunts and shouts as he fought. I peeked out to see him fighting off about three different and tall body guards at once. But why was he doing it?

And then it hit me…

"_I will protect you until the day I die!"_

He actually meant it! I smiled and then I shouted out loud, letting my inner come out. "GO LEE! KICK THEIR ASSES!" He grinned as he punched another few and shot at some more. I myself grinned.

He was great! He knocked out several guards in a matter of seconds and he had shot quite a few. All whole bunch of them were lying on the ground, clutching at certain spots on their body.

I was surprised that none of them had sounded the alarm. Maybe it was because they thought that they could beat us. I found that hard to believe. We may have been teenagers but we had twice as much strength as adults…well the doctor told me that a couple days after I turned fourteen…

I blinked a few times as I saw someone cut Lee's ear. It started bleeding and he clutched at it as he kicked a few more with his Leaf Hurricane. I gasped as I saw another kick him back and leave him on the floor and gunpoint.

I was behind him in an instant. "Shoot him and I shoot you." I opened my eyes. My gun was to his head and his gun was pointed down at Lee, who was lying on the floor, staring up at us with wide eyes.

I wrapped my left arm around him, holding him back to make sure he didn't run away and when he was going to pull back his finger I pulled my trigger and got him in the head, killing him instantly.

I helped Lee up, but he fell unconscious. So now I was alone again in this. I blinked as I stared at the rest of the guards. They were all staring at me from their mangled spots on the ground and the few that weren't were charging at me. I flipped over the first one and kicked him in the back, simultaneously punching the next one in the face. I shot at the other one and turned back around to shoot at them, getting them in vital parts.

I felt a sharp pain in my back and gasped as I fell, face first, to the ground. I picked my head up and felt the blood drip from my nose. I fixed it so that the cartilage wouldn't go crooked. I turned to look at who kicked me, and saw Kin standing there. She was smirking at me, a cow skin scarf wrapped around her neck, with a gray tank top and black sweatpants. Her combat boots the longest part of her outfit and matching her sweatpants.

She walked over behind me. I felt a strong pain in my scalp and moaned out in pain. "What soft and shiny hair you have. But you know, if you would spend a little more time practicing your fighting and your aim, and a little less time shampooing then you wouldn't be in this mess, now would you?"

I turned my head to look at Lee, who had gone unconscious because of the loss of blood, and Sasuke and Naruto were visible from here. They all tried their hardest to help me, to help us gain information to defeat Orochimaru. And they were all unconscious and hurt because I couldn't do anything to save them…

I felt another pull on my hair and my head was pushed down. Dosu walked in, and I heard him laugh evilly. "Kin! Nice job. It looks like you got them all down. The rest of the guards may have been taken down but at least that troublesome gang went down with it."

I felt the hot, salty tears sting the corner of my eyes. I had let them down. I had let everyone down. Tenten, Hinata, Ino, Temari, Sasuke, Naruto, Kiba, Neji, Shikamaru, Lee…And Lee! Lee risked his life to save me. And I couldn't do anything to save him.

I felt the tears roll down my cheeks slowly. "Dosu, go get rid of them all once and for all, and don't forget to spare Uchiha. Orochimaru wants him."

I cried harder. I let them down. I was useless, as usual. I could never do anything right. I couldn't fight to save my own life, let alone someone else's. I wasn't cut out for this. I couldn't do anything.

And then an idea struck. I reached into my pouch for a knife and held it out in front of me. "That won't work on me girly." I turned my head, smirking. "It's not meant for you." I quickly swiped the knife through my hair, cutting it and letting Kin fall back. It fell to my mid-neck. I inwardly sighed. All that time growing my hair for nothing. But I couldn't waste time on that.

I stood up quickly and ran at Dosu. He shot at me and I dodged. He did it again and I dodged again. I grabbed a knife from my bag and took a shot to my arm as I ran straight for him and pounced on him like a lion and its prey. I bit him on the arm and I felt him restrain my other arm, holding it out so that I wouldn't stab him in the chest. He was punching me on the head and my nose broke again, the blood spewing out. He kept punching me, and it hurt like hell, but I had to endure it to keep Sasuke, Naruto, and Lee safe until back up got here. I felt myself bite my own lip and it started bleeding as well. He got me once in the eye, and I felt that swell up some.

"Sakura!" I heard Ino there. "Get off of him, we'll take it from here!" I wasn't going to. "Sakura!" I was going to be the one to fight. "GET OFF OF HIM!" They were going to be the ones to watch from the background. "LET US DO THIS!" This was my fight!

I fought against his restraint and ended up getting him the leg, and not that deep, but it was enough to get him to stop punching me. He clutched at his leg and I only got to punch him once in the face before Temari pulled me off. I opened my eyes and looked over at Shikamaru and Ino fighting Kin.

"Shadow Possession Jutsu!" He smirked as he got her. "Gotcha! Ino! Your call!" She stepped up. "Got it! Mind Transfer Jutsu!" Ugh. The exorcist team. I watched as Kin's eyes went real wide, and then slowly returned to normal. Dosu was standing now but he had a limp and a lot of blood dripping from his leg. Ino smirked.

"Alright. Now you either leave the guys alone, or…" she picked up her gun and put it to her head "your little teammate gets it." I felt my eyes widen. Whatever happened to the current vessel or body she was in would happen to her actual body. She knew that. Maybe she was just trying to trick them. I took a look at her body, which was lying on its back on the floor. I looked up at Kin…uh…Ino…whatever. Temari came out of no where and just swung her fan, getting Shikamaru and Ino in the process. Dosu flew back into a wall. He looked up at us. Ino had blood dripping from her lip in Kin's body and in her own body. The secret was given away.

She stood up and cursed. "Really. So let's say that I was to kill Kin. Wouldn't the same thing happen to you?" He cocked up his gun at Ino and her eyes widened. "You would be willing to kill your own partner?" He smirked and nodded. "I wouldn't mind." I gasped.

I could see Temari picked up Ino's body. "Ino, transfer out! Uchiha's awake!" She blinked and looked over here before shouting, "Release!" Sasuke was awake?

I blinked and looked over to see him standing there, a murderous look on his face. Although there was smirk there.

I watched him, worriedly, as he walked over to where Dosu was standing and next to him, Zaku had come. I gasped as I saw him kick Dosu down and grab Zaku before turning him around. "You seem very fond of your arms, very…attached to them." He grabbed both of his arms and pulled them out straight behind him before putting his foot in the center of his back. "Not anymore!" He pulled his arms back to maximum strength and pushed his back the other way. There was a sickening crack and a strangled scream from Zaku as Sasuke dropped him and let him fall to the ground. He turned to give Dosu and the unconscious Kin another killer look.

I felt the tears renew themselves in my eyes. This wasn't Sasuke, was it? It couldn't be. He was never like this, or was he? No. He wasn't. Whoever this was…this wasn't Sasuke.

I got up and ran toward him. "Stoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooop!" He kept walking and I caught up and hugged him around the middle, feeling my tears spill out. I had my arms around his, restraining him. "Don't do it. Please Sasuke…stop." I dug my face into his back, wetting his shirt with my tears. He breathed more evenly and then he turned and hugged me back all of a sudden, which surprised me. He was consoling me, rubbing my back and I let my tears fall.

After a while I calmed down and Ino pulled me off to the side. "What were you doing throwing yourself on him like that? Screaming like that? Did you want to give us away? We're just lucky that Tenten and Neji are finishing the last of the guards!" I frowned and looked down at the floor, my bangs, which were now longer than my hair, hiding my eyes, as they were, once again, filling with tears. The truth was…I had found something out a few days ago. The time that Sasuke kissed me in the hallway…

I couldn't believe it had happened to me. I had begun liking him in a way that I knew I wasn't supposed to. I liked him in a way that could destroy our friendship.

"I…I didn't want to see him kill someone just like that…" She gave me a quick glare before turning to my hair. "And what about that?" I sighed. "Kin was hair-pulling again so I had to cut it off." She mouthed an 'oh' before going over to everyone else. I picked my head up a bit and gulped as I saw Sasuke shaking, with a look a fear on his face a few feet away from me. He seemed scared of his own strength.

I walked over to him slowly and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "Sasuke-kun?" He looked up at me, eyes wide, and then looked down at his palms. "What the…How the…How the hell did I do that? I don't remember learning that!" I blinked a few times. So it wasn't that he was scared of his power, it was that he was scared of the techniques he didn't even know where he was getting from.

I sighed. "Relax Sasuke-kun. It's over now." He looked up at me and nodded slowly. I blinked, blushed, and looked away. I could practically hear him smirk at that. It looks like he was back to himself again…_Great…_Note the sarcastic relief behind that.

**Tenten**

I paused for a breath before running at another guard. I laughed a bit cruelly as I shot at him. I couldn't help it. This was my favorite form of target practice. I got him straight in the chest and he fell to the floor, dead instantly.

Neji dodged another set of bullets with his Rotation technique and then shot at a few as he did another spin. It was just me and him now. Lee had abandoned us when he heard one of the guards say, "The pink-haired bitch got away with the two half-dead boys?" I take it they were talking about Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke. So here we were, duking it out with the rest of the guards, almost done with our levels. The building escalated slowly with every right turn to the next hallway and it went downward with every left turn.

We were on the fifteenth. We were probably going to be the last ones done. Hell I'm sure we were. I'm sure Ino's group had taken her sections, Sakura had managed to take down hers, Hinata and Kiba were probably done in their section waiting for us, and Temari was probably done in two and a half minutes by the deadly force of her fan.

I knocked out another body guard with a blow to the chest, which left him without air for a good while. I turned to see Neji shoot down the last one and sighed. We were done. And it was about time too. I heard my phone ring.

_You're a jerk_

_I know_

_You're a jerk_

_I know_

_You're a jerk_

_I know_

_You're a jerk_

_I know_

I picked it up quickly. "Yo?" It was Ino. "Guess what nutcase fucked up our mission bad!" I groaned. "Ino just tell me!" She sighed. "Sakura was biting the shit out of Dosu and Lee, Naruto, and Sasuke were KO next to an indent in the wall." I blinked and let that sink in. "Wait a minute, so how the hell do you know this." "I came to help her out. She was losing badly. Her nose is broken, her lip is broken, she has a cut on her head, and she has a bullet in her arm."

I sighed. "Dammit…I'll be right there." I hung up and slid my AT&T Nokia 6650 into my pocket. "We need to go, like right now." He raised a brow and I just ran past him, grabbing his wrist and pulling him behind me. Turning left through the corridors and finally taking a right turn to the corridor that Sakura and the others had gone through, then turning right until I stopped and saw Zaku on the floor, unconscious, with Dosu and Kin in a pile. Sakura was wiping the blood from her nose, which she'd fixed, and Ino was watching her in distaste. Distaste because…

She cut her hair. Her hair was down to her mid-neck now. Naruto was being awoken by Shikamaru and Temari. It was a miracle that no one had heard them yelling a few stories up. "Just kick him in the side and wake him up!" Temari…always the brutal one. "No! That could break his ribcage!" And Shikamaru, one of the few people who actually dared to argue with her. "I don't give a damn, as long as he's awake to help us in case of the other teams expecting us!" "Well if you kick his ribcage it'll puncture his heart and he'll never wake up again!" She sighed. "Fine then how about this!" She tapped her fan to his head a little heavily and Naruto woke up immediately. "HA! HINATA-CHAN I PROMISE I DIDN'T SEE A THING!" He clapped a hand over his mouth and turned a pink-ish color. I laughed.

He took a look at Sakura and Sasuke and his eyes widened. "Sakura! What happened…to…to…to your hair!?" He scurried over to her. She put her hand up to it. "Oh! That! I just…thought it was too long. It got in the way. When I'm in a gang like this, it's dangerous to have my hair like this." She smiled and Naruto nodded in a sort of understanding manner. I take it they didn't want to tell him because he would get mad that he wasn't able to help.

I turned to look at Lee who was still unconscious. I stomped over to him and pulled him up by the collar. "Get it together Lee! Look at yourself! You let yourself get beat so easily. C'mon I trained you better than that! Wake up dammit!" He open his eyes, one of them swollen on the lid a bit, and he blinked a few times. "T…Tenten?" I nodded. "S-Sakura-chan…w…where's Sakura-chan!" He was awake now and was looking around the room, looking for him. "She's fine, just a haircut." He finally found her and he mimicked Naruto's actions.

Said person laughed at him. "Hey bushy brow! You look so beat! What did you get your ass whooped by a midget or something?!" Sakura's fist collided with his jaw. "Don't you make fun of Lee!" He skid across the ground and stopped a little ways away from the wall. I could hear him say, "The world's gone crazy." I laughed a bit before reloading my gun and whistling to gather everyone up. "Alright now we just go meet Hinata and we see what those guys are planning. Got it?" They nodded and I breathed in heavily before running down the corridors toward Hinata and Kiba.

I heard everyone behind me as I turned right again and spotted Kiba's red fang tattoos and Hinata's indigo hair. I called to them. "Hinata! Kiba!" They turned to look at me and I stopped in front of them. "There, let's go." They smiled, nodded, and then followed along with the group.

We slowly escalated the building, taking in slowly all the body-guards that had been knocked down. I take it that they didn't think anyone would make it all the way up here or that they had all rushed down to pound on Sakura's team. There were no guards on the last two floors. We got lucky.

I stopped at a door that was closed, but not locked. I smirked. This was a piece of cake so far. Or maybe it was a trap. I didn't care. I would take my chances.

I pulled the door open just a crack and I heard Karin's snobby voice. "Orochimaru-san, we need to know when we're going to attack. Make sure it's soon. I want Sasuke-kun to see how good I am as a gang leader!" I could hear the air of arrogance, confidence, and smirkidence in her voice as she said that. Ami added to it as well. "Yeah, and when Neji sees how strong I am he'll ditch that newbie Panda and get with me instead!" I rolled my eyes and stuck my middle finger at her through the tiny crack, although I knew she couldn't see it.

Orochimaru's sinister, snake-like voice leaked through the crack through the doors. "Calm down girls. You'll get your boys, don't worry. I think that, as we are all in this together, that we plan out the date and time to when we're ready to attack. Believe me though, either way, Konoha will cower under us." I heard him laugh lowly, evilly. Great. He was still lying to them.

I sighed quietly. It was going to be hard if they were so into it. I heard Sai come in as well. "Then Zaku better hurry up because we need to plan our day of attack. What's taking him so long anyway?" Orochimaru laughed evilly again. "Oh don't worry about that. I'm sure he's fine. Or maybe he's lying on a corridor floor, unconscious with Dosu and Kin. Because just maybe…"

He pointed his gun at the crack in the door and I gulped quietly. He knew we were here? It couldn't be! We planned everything out perfectly, so that it would go smoothly. How did he know? Or maybe he was playing a game. Maybe he didn't know, maybe he was guessing, and to make sure, he was trying to see if we would strike. I stuck my hand out at the two gangs behind me, to make sure that they stayed shut. He finished his sentence as he fingered his trigger. "There's someone here, trying to listen in on our plans. A certain female gang, with another gang…of males."

I turned to stare at them, and saw that they all had either a look of horror or surprise on their face. He did know that we were here. I saw him take his finger back a pinch and I moved out the way, the others mimicking my movement. He shot at the crack and the bullet went hurtling into the corridor and into the wall opposite us. I turned to look back at him. He was smirking. "Come on out. I know you're there."

I set my gun up and kicked open the door. I didn't say anything, I just shot at all of them. I got Orochimaru in both arms immediately. He fell to the floor with a cry of pain and I grinned devilishly at that. I turned to face the three gang leaders with my gun pointed out at them. They had all of theirs out and pointing at me too. Three against one. I liked those odds, even if they weren't in my favor. They made things a lot more interesting.

I shot at Karin and Ami, and successfully got them in the leg and foot, which sent them both to the ground with a scream. No one behind me was doing anything and I thanked them for it inwardly because I wanted to take these guys down. I turned to shoot at Sai and gasped as he got me in right side of the chest. I coughed up some blood and fell to the ground, putting a hand to my mouth and looking up at him. I couldn't breathe correctly…hell I could barely breathe. He smirked and turned around to help Karin and Ami. I slowly reached for my gun, blood trailing on my fingers, and shot at him, clipping him on the arm, which left a very minimal cut.

My aim was affected by this. Most definitely. Light was fading fast. Everything was going black. I couldn't breathe. I felt cold. And most importantly I felt a huge pain in my chest, like the cardiac muscles had frozen. I wheezed and the last thing I saw was Neji's worried face before my entire body went numb and my vision went black.

**Sakura**

I pushed Neji out of the way not so gently when I saw Tenten's eyes close. This was not good. If we didn't get her home and that bullet out of her chest, she wouldn't wake up ever again. And then we wouldn't have anything to do but grieve.

I turned to Temari. Good thing I was put as second in demand. "Temari, get your car ready because we need Tenten on stretcher back at the house half an hour ago." She nodded and ran off as quick as she could toward the parking lot. "Hinata, hold this!" I threw her my bag of medical supplies and she caught it easily. "C'mon Tenten! Hold on for just a bit!"

I picked her up piggy-back style and raced down the corridors. The last sound before I turned the corner, other than the others' footsteps, was a cruel, low, evil laugh.

* * *

_Tan tan tan! I just dropped a suspense and cliffy bomb on you guys! Muah ha ha ha ha! So now, time for the new app introduced to the xXKiki-chan-2-13Xx person SUSPENSE QUESTIONS!_

_Ahem: _

**_Will Tenten live?_**

**_What will happen with the beef between Sakura and Ino?_**

**_How does Neji feel about all this?_**

**_And most importantly:_**

**_Does Sasuke really have a certain reaction to Sakura or not?_**

**_And does Sasuke really know that Neji and Tenten were in fact making out during training the week before?_**

**_..._**

_Okay...well this author's note is long enough sorry for the super long wait! This one took a while because I wanted to put in more than usual. The chapter by itself is more than 8,300 words [8,394]. So thanks to all who read and review please!_


	9. Outbreaks

**Chapter Nine**

**Outbreaks**

**Sakura**

I ran up the stairs and into the bedroom in three seconds flat. Tenten was fading fast. I could practically feel her heartbeat against my back. It wasn't a comforting sound. Damn that Sai! He was gonna pay for this even if she lived.

I laid her on the bed and Hinata ran in with my pouch. She handed it to me and I emptied its contents on a nearby table top. I heard everyone else come in. I yelled out to all of them as I looked through the stuff and gathered my materials. "All boys get the hell out, you can't see this."

I heard footsteps exit the room in a scurry and then I heard Ino's upset and desperate voice. "Neji you have to get out of here! You can't be in here this is something you won't see for a few more years unless you're like a playboy or something…" She walked over to me and started to get the rest of the stuff. I was so lucky that I wasn't the only medic in the gang. I heard Neji 'hn.' "Neji please! Do you really want to see Tenten's boobs be cut open?" I could hear him gag then quickly exit the room."

I heard the door shut close and then me and Ino set to work. I ripped Tenten's shirt open and unclasped her bra to get a better look at the wound. She had blood everywhere from what I could tell. The bullet was sticking out only by a bit. I would definitely have to cut her open for this. It was a good thing she was unconscious or this would hurt like hell and the neighbors would think that someone was dying in here…uh…well right now she is…

I breathed heavily as I reached for the scalpel in the mess of stuff. I swiftly and accurately cut around the wound and then cleaned up the blood that spilled out. The bullet was in pretty deep. This was not good it had cut some of the cardiac muscle. "Ino! Hand me the stitches and the needle alright! And the pliers." She nodded and turned to get the before mentioned instruments. She handed them all to me and I breathed in a huge gulp of air to calm myself. This was gonna take a damn while. I looked back down at the wound and slowly pinched the bullet with the pliers and when I was sure it was there I slowly pulled it out. Slowly because if I were to do it fast I could rip the cardiac muscle even more and the important oxygen rich blood could spill out and that would mean good bye Tenten.

I quickly wrapped the stitch around the needle and pinched her muscle together. I pulled them together one by one but quickly and perfectly. When adrenaline took control of my body, it was like a fire was set off and I had to move like if I were to escape in five seconds from the roof of the building without jumping off or I'd be blown to bits. I finished stitching her cardiac muscles up and sighed a bit. "Ino transfer in for a minute." She nodded and transferred into Tenten's body for a split second.

I saw Tenten's eyes blink open as Ino's body slumped. "Ino! What's going on in there?" There was a loud gasp of pain and Tenten's eyes widened to two giant puddles of chocolate. "RELEASE!" I saw the spiritual energy leave quickly as it went back to Ino's body. She blinked open and gasped. "Sakura you better hurry up and pour some lead in there because her hearts giving it all its got to try and pump enough blood to the body and there's not a lot left."

I nodded and grabbed a bottle of lead. I injected it into her arm. This might give her nausea later but I really didn't give a damn as long as she lived.

I sewed up her chest and listened to her heart beating. It still didn't sound good, the blood was thickening though. I could hear it. And then, it stopped.

**Neji**

I shook my leg quickly, anxiously. What the hell would happen to us if Tenten died? Would we keep on with the mission, or would we just quit.

I heard Sakura and Ino's frantic yells from upstairs.

"INO! HER HEART STOPPED BEATING! SHE'S NOT BREATHING! GET THE ASTHMA MACHINE NOW!" I looked up the stairs. What the hell did they mean she wasn't breathing? She was dead then? I felt everyone turn to look up the stairs as well. "SAKURA AT LEAST DO SOMETHING TO KEEP HER GOING FOR THE TIME BEING!" This didn't look like it would end well. "GIVE HER CPR OR SOMETHING!" Sakura's voice rang out. "NO! I'M NOT PUTTING MY LIPS ON HER MOUTH AFTER SHE'S BEEN MAKING OUT WITH HYUGA! EGH!"

I sighed and slapped my forehead. So she was going to let Tenten die just because I had kissed her last week. At this rate Ino and Sakura were just going to forget about Tenten altogether.

I ran up the stairs, not caring what the others thought of it. I threw the door open to see Sakura pressing down on Tenten's chest, trying to get her heart beating again. I walked over to the bed, ignoring anything below her face. I placed my fingers on her neck, and felt her pulse slowly coming back, although she still wasn't breathing. I put her head back and opened her mouth before pressing mine to it and breathing into her.

I repeated that many times until I heard her breathe heavily herself. Sakura was staring at me, a small gleam in her eye. She smiled at me. I blinked. Ino was suddenly next to her, with that same gleam.

I heard a large gasp and turned to see Tenten sitting up and staring at us all with wide eyes.

**Tenten**

I blinked as I stared at Sakura, Ino, and Neji, my arms at my sides. Sakura and Ino were both beaming at Neji and he was staring down at me. A sharp pain ran up my entire chest and I coughed a bit before breathing a deep breath, wincing and one eye open. "What happened?" Sakura blinked and looked down at me.

I raised an eyebrow as her eyes widened. She pointed to Neji and then pointed to my chest. I blinked and looked up at Neji and then down and screamed as I pulled the blankets over myself. "NEJI YOU PERVERT GET OUT OF MY ROOM!" I could hear everyone laugh downstairs, a sound of relief and humor. I didn't really care. I was too embarrassed. Neji saw my chi chi's? That's kinda rude sneaking up on a girl when she's unconscious!

He exited the room quickly and I heard him run down the stairs. I looked up at Ino and Sakura and they blinked at each other before looking down at me. "Of all the things you could've said to thank him…" Ino continued for Sakura. "You had to scream at him and call him a _pervert_?" I blinked. "What the hell do you mean?" They both looked down at me and spoke simultaneously. "He saved you dumbass!" I felt my eyes go wide. "He gave you CPR because billboard brow refused to!"

Ino turned to Sakura who glared at her before turning to me. "Go shower, take a few painkillers, and then go to sleep, okay?" I nodded and stepped out of bed, feeling a little woozy, and leaning against the wall for support, but getting to the bathroom just fine. So Neji saved me? I would have to thank him later…that's a hint…

**Ino**

I walked down the stairs behind Sakura. She just had to refuse to give her CPR. Tenten could've died if it weren't for Neji coming in and saving her like that. We would've been left without a leader or weapons specialist because the pink-haired bitch couldn't let go of her small pride to save her best friend's life. She was such an idiot!

And letting herself get beat up just like that, not being able to take down those guards, nearly getting herself killed? She really was an idiot. Something was up with her.

"Sakura you idiot! You realize that you're really not doing anything at all in this gang except disinfecting peoples' cuts right!" She turned to me and gave me a hard glare that I returned. "Look who's talking you pig! All you ever do is look into peoples' minds to see what the latest gossip is!"

She did not just go there…

"Billboard brow!"

"Pig!"

I grabbed her by her shirt collar as she got me. "Bitch!" "Slut!"

We let go of each other. "You wanna take this outside?" I smirked and nodded. "Yeah why not? I've been waiting for a while for this!"

I followed her out the door to the backyard. She was going to lose. I heard the others follow after us outside to watch. Poor Tenten wouldn't be able to sleep when she heard Sakura scream that she gave in.

**Sakura**

Ino was going down. I wasn't going to lose this. She wasn't the only one that had been waiting for this fight for a while.

"I'm not losing to you anymore Ino!" She smirked. "No way am I losing to you billboard brow!"

I threw my headband off and charged at her. She wasn't going to win this fight. I was going to kick her ass!

I went to punch her in the face and she dodged it. She went to get me in the face and I blocked it, and a few others until she got me in the stomach. I coughed a dry wheeze as I got my air back and frowned. I got up and went to punch her. She caught it. I went to kick her but it came into contact with her leg as well.

I sent her a hard glare as we both backed up a bit.

I threw a few kunai at her. She dodged two and caught the third between her fingers before throwing it back at me. I dodged it and ran forward to kick her. She smirked as she jumped back and dodged. I tried to trip her and she jumped up to dodge. I nearly got her with a face shot but she dived to the floor before I could get her and then jumped away before I could do anything else. She was good I had to admit, but I was just as good.

"Ino! You're gonna lose this fight!" She shook her head and swung to punch me. And then, just when her hand was coming into contact with my face, she switched it and slapped me instead.

I felt my eyes widen in shock as I let the sting on my cheek sink in. Why didn't she punch me? I looked at her and saw an expression on her face that I couldn't quite put my finger on. And then I got my composure back and spoke. "Ino! I'm not gonna fight you to see who's better now. I'm fighting you for real, the winner take all!" She glared at me. "Sakura! Do you have any idea who you're mouthing off to?" I smirked. "For this time Ino!" I punched her across the face and sent her flying back a few feet. "I'm not some little crybaby anymore Ino! I can take care of myself!"

She wiped the blood from her lip and smirked. "Heh. I can see that. Fine. Just remember that you asked for it!"

She ran at me. And the real fight began.

**Sasuke**

I didn't let my shock show although I was surprised at how hard these girls were fighting. "Is this the full extent of their power?" I heard Neji drawl out. And for once I heard Hinata stand up to him. "Nii-san it's not that they're girls. It's that they're using kid-hits!" She turned back to see the fight.

Sakura and Ino were, so far, tied. Neither of them got a good hit…until…

"AGH!" They yelled at the same time as they punched each other in the face simultaneously. That had to hurt. They flew back a few feet and stood up to face each other.

I saw a look of shock on Ino's face. "I don't get this! This wasn't supposed to go like this! How did you get so strong!?" Sakura smirked and let out a small laugh. "Geez Ino! It's true that your obsession with your looks and hair can't be surpassed. But I can't worry about that stuff! I've been training too hard to beat Orochidumbass to worry about that."

Ino let out a loud scream and reached into her weapons pouch. She pulled out a kunai and picked up her hair with the other hand. Sakura's eyes widened, as if she knew what was going to happen. One second, Ino was reaching toward her hair, the next she had seven eighths of her ponytail cut off. She had a rather angry and psychotic look on her face.

"THAT'S IT! I DON'T NEED THIS! YOU THINK I NEED MY HAIR TO BE A GREAT FIGHTER! WELL GUESS WHAT! I DON'T! I DON'T NEED ANY OF THIS AT ALL! I CAN GET RID OF IT ALL RIGHT NOW AND IT WON'T MATTER BECAUSE _I DON'T NEED IT! _YOU GOT THAT BILLBOARD BROW! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGH!" She threw her hair onto the floor and set her hands out into that familiar concentration hand sign. I heard Shikamaru next to me. "She isn't seriously gonna do that without someone to hold her opponent? She does know that in the time she's out Sakura can kick her ass if it doesn't get to her!"

Sakura smirked. "You think that's gonna work? And as I know, that's Exorcist Art: Mind Transfer Jutsu. It allows you to take over your opponent's body and control them completely. However there is a downside to this jutsu. The spiritual energy can only go straight and it goes very slowly. If you miss, you can be knocked out for several minutes and this in a battle that may last only seconds."

Sakura smirked again, satisfied. Ino was furious and Sakura was laughing at her evilly. "SO WHAT! I DON'T CARE! YOU'RE GOING DOWN BILLBOARD BROW." Sakura stood at a ready stance to run. Ino screamed out the name of the jutsu and Sakura ran to the side. I didn't see or hear anything going across as Ino's body dropped to the floor onto its knees.

Sakura laughed. "Ha! Idiot." She tried to walk forward but she found herself caught in a trap, a rope tied around her ankle. How the hell did that happen. She traced it with her eyes to see Ino stepping on it, a smirk on her face. She was perfectly fine.

"You fell for it Sakura! You fell right into my trap. And now, for the real Jutsu!" She concentrated and pushed her hands out again before she screamed the words that would seal Sakura's doom in this match. "Exorcist Art: MIND TRANSFER JUTSU!"

**Ino**

I smirked as I entered Sakura's body. She was in for it now. I was going to scream all her secrets out loud and before she could even realize I did it I would transfer out and knock her out. Simple as pie. "Alright now let's see…"

I laughed wickedly and I saw that the others heard it because I felt their weird stares on me.

"You see me? Sakura Haruno? Well I…!" My eyes widened as I heard a familiar voice inside my head. Great. Sakura's Inner woke up. Dammit!

I heard Naruto yell out to her. "Sakura are you just going to give up like that? Come on fight back! I wanna actually _see _the fight!" Damn that brat. I heard her own thoughts kicking in. "Ugh, this is hard. But Naruto's right. I can't give in! Not now!" "So Sakura? Are you gonna give in yes or no?" I heard him shout out again.

I lost control for a minute and I heard her shout out. "NO I WON'T BE GIVING UP TO INO! NOT NOW NOT EVER! CHA! SHANNARO!"

I took control again and shouted at her. "SHUT THE HELL UP BILLBOARD BROW!"

"Ino if you don't get out of my head right now I'm gonna kick your ass to kingdom come and back and you'll be in big trouble!" I tried to wrestle with her but I couldn't. Shit! There was no other option. "RELEASE!" I felt a slow release as I returned to my body, breathing heavily. "Sakura…how is it that there's two of you?" She smirked. "How strong are you?" She answered back between breaths. "Someone who's just as strong as she is beautiful."

I glared at her as I wiped some blood from my lip. She did the same.

"Still, this fight isn't over." We stood up and glared at each other.

She smirked and I smirked back as we both ran toward each other, each having a fist at ready until we met at the center of the backyard.

**Hinata**

I gasped as I saw them both knock each other out with a hit to the face. This wasn't cool. Both medics knocked each other out. Who was going to wake who up?

My highly trained eyes saw blood spew out of their mouths as they both fell to opposite sides of the backyard. "I…It's a draw!" I heard the others groan. "I thought Ino was gonna win." "Ha! Fat chance! You saw how Sakura kicked her out like that!"

I rolled my eyes and jogged over to Sakura to help her up. This wasn't good. Tenten was under enough stress as it was what with her body beginning to heal. When she found out that Ino and Sakura knocked each other out, she was sure to probably have a heart-attack from all the anger and stress. That wouldn't be good especially with her current situation. She probably wouldn't stand a chance if her heart gave out.

"Nii-san, why don't we go put them on the couch?" He snapped back. "Because you aren't moving or doing anything." I frowned and picked up Sakura before turning back to face him. "Maybe I can't carry two people at once."

I turned and walked to go into the living room. I placed Sakura on the couch and then turned to see Neji placing Ino on the other side of the couch. They looked so peaceful while they rested.

I walked back outside quickly, to avoid Neji. He was looking rather murderous right about now. As soon as I stepped out onto the grass I heard someone call me. "Not so fast Hinata." I '_eep'_ed and turned to face him. "Why didn't you stop the fight? You know that those girls have full respect for you and you couldn't stop them?" I blinked and looked down. "Was it that you were scared?" I didn't say anything. I wasn't going to answer because I was in fact scared and because of that I hadn't been thinking correctly, so I didn't have the courage to stop them.

"You try to prove yourself to others, show them that you are supposedly stronger than they think you are, but you can never do it. You always chicken out of it." I looked up at him and then toward the upper left, then toward the lower right. He frowned. "Like now. When you did that, I saw a ton of things in your eyes. I saw fear, fear of what you think is going to happen.

"HINATA!" I blinked and looked up at Naruto. "Are you just gonna sit there and let him talk to you like that?" I blinked and looked up at him. "I've been getting tired of the way he treats you! Show him what you got."

I looked back down…Naruto was right. I blushed a little bit. I couldn't let Neji talk to me like this. I looked back up at him, feeling a sudden rush course through me.

I sharpened the focus in my eyes, getting ready, a determined look on my face. "Neji, I'm not going to take this any longer. I challenge you." I got into my stance. He looked at me, confused. "I challenge you." I repeated myself and a smirk grew on his face. "Alright, just remember, you wanted to do this." He sharpened the focus in his eyes and got into his own stance, which was similar to my own.

We circled for a little bit and then I lunged at him. I twisted and turned in attempts to block off his nerve endings so that he wouldn't be able to move and he twisted and turned in attempts to dodge them and do the same to me.

I went toward his shoulder and he easily blocked it and then I went for his gut and he blocked that as well. I bit my lip and tried to get him in other spots. He smirked and dodged them all and I frowned determinedly as I tried to get him just once, to show him I wasn't weak or a nuisance at all.

And then I went to get him in the torso at the same time that he went to get me.

It went silent as I let out a cough. I felt my heartbeat increase in beats and the blood spill out of my mouth a little. I wheezed and looked up at him, eyes wide. I frowned. "Y-You didn't get me that hard." He retracted his hand and I felt some nausea down in my stomach. I went and kept on fighting. I wasn't going to let one little blow get to me, no matter how much harder it was to fight back. I was tired of the way that he treated me. Which was nothing better than crap.

I lost my focus for a second and he got me in an uppercut-like blow. I had to take a few steps back on the grass to balance myself but I didn't fall. I clutched at my throat and gasped as more blood trickled out the sides of my mouth. That hurt like crazy but I wasn't done yet. He smirked once more and turned.

I re-sharpened the focus in my eyes and ran at him, my palm ready and he heard me and turned to block it just before it got him. He grabbed my arm and pushed my sleeve back and I gasped.

Little red spots covered it. So this entire time?

"Yes. This entire time with every blow that you've attempted to give me, not only did I block the blow I blocked off your nerve endings as well." I frowned, this time in anger. It was no wonder that with every blow I got way more off course than I'd hoped.

I pulled back my hand and ducked to dodge a blow that he was aiming toward my head. I tried to trip-kick him but it didn't work. Instead I nearly tripped but I caught myself and stood up I blinked and looked up at him and then I brought my hand back to get him. He struck me in the heart before I was even an inch to striking him. I coughed. That one hurt. I flew back this time, all the way back. I grabbed at the abused spot, feeling it slow. My chest hurt now and I was sure that he had tried to stop it. I coughed up blood and the trails on the sides of my mouth were now pouring down in not rivers, but waterfalls.

"HINATA!" I looked up to see Naruto staring down at me, his face determined for me, with me. "GET UP AND FIGHT!"

I heard Sakura's voice after. So she'd woken up?" "NARUTO YOU IDIOT CAN'T YOU SEE THAT SHE'S HAD ENOUGH?" I turned around, slowly, seeing as I was hurting, and, just as slow, got up. I coughed a few times and I nearly fell, but I got up. Neji just turned. "This fight is over." I felt the tears sting.

I'd lost, again. And this time I'd lost more than just a fight, I lost a war, a personal family war. I'd lost Neji's trust, heck I'd bet I'd even lost half of my body to this fight. And if Sakura didn't hurry, I could lose my life.

I fell back on the grass and started coughing up more blood into my hand. "HINATA!" I saw Naruto run up to me. I couldn't help but think of what he thought of me.

Did he think I changed?

_Do you Naruto? Do you think I changed…_

Everything got darker and it was hard to stay focused, hard to stay conscious.

_  
Maybe just…_

I felt my eyes close, and my eyelids felt heavier, so it was impossible to open them.

_A little?_

My breathing slowed and I felt my heart slowly get closer to a standstill.

**Sakura**

"NEJI WHAT THE HELL? WERE YOU TRYING TO KILL HER?" I turned to look at Naruto, who was yelling at Neji, who was silent, a serious look plastered on his face. As if it were true. Naruto's cerulean blue eyes widened as he saw it as well. "You…YOU REALLY WERE, WEREN'T YOU?" His eyes flashed red for a second and he turned to wipe some of Hinata's blood on his fingers.

"I swear, I will get you back for this Neji…I DON'T CARE WHAT IT TAKES!" Neji just smirked and turned around to go into the house, as if he'd done nothing wrong. I turned back to Hinata, who looked like she was in need of some major CPR.

But I wasn't going to do it.

No…I knew someone who'd be willing.

"NARUTO! GET OVER HERE!" He immediately turned around. "What?" I closed my eyes and breathed in slowly. "Umm…I know this is weird but can you give Hinata CPR while I work on her upstairs in the room?"

A light pink blush tinted his cheeks. "Um…I…I…Okay…" He blushed an even darker shade of red. I picked her up and made a mad dash for her room. I was there in less than a minute with the supplies still on the table next to the beds. I picked up the scalpel and slowly cut open her chest, as I had done with Tenten. I heard Naruto turned away. I turned to look at him.

"Hello, CPR man, just concentrate on her face!" He turned to look at me and then nodded. He walked over and gave her a few starter's breaths.

I ignored him and his frantic attempts and focused on fixing Hinata's nerves. I spotted one and some blood covering it. It wasn't moving, no currents running through it. I sighed. "Sorry Hinata, this is gonna hurt, even in your unconscious state but it's the only way." I slowly brought my fingers to her nerve and slowly pinched it, to make it work.

Her upper torso shot up and I dropped my hand out of her arms as the blood poured down. She let out a loud scream. Naruto's eyes widened as if he'd just committed first degree murder and I winced at the velocity of her voice. I pushed her back down and brought her eyelids down. She had tears coming from her eyes. I had Naruto hold her down as I slowly pinched every nerve that had been shut down in the area. It was hard because she was struggling against Naruto.

I quickly sewed her up and moved onto her lower torso.

A whole lot had been shut off down here. And what was worse was that this part of the gut was the most sensitive. "Naruto, get ready to have to use full force to keep her down." He nodded and I leaned down to pinch one of the first nerves.

**Tenten  
**I groaned and slowly opened my eyes at the sound of a loud scream. These people would be the death of me.

I slipped my pillow out from under my head and placed it on my face.

"So after my CPR you're still going to try and suffocate yourself?"

I gasped and let out a small scream of my own and turned to see Neji leaning against Sakura's drawer. See they'd sent me in here to sleep because my blankets were covered in blood…which wasn't a good thing for pain-killer nausea.

I looked down to make sure that I wasn't topless this time and after confirming that I had one a tank top I turned to look at Neji. "Um…yea…I didn't apologize correctly for that…sorry…and um….thanks…" I blushed. The fact that his lips had been over mine _again _somewhat excited me. That and the fact that he'd saved my life.

Another scream rang through the wooden door and I groaned again. "What the hell is all that screaming?" I turned to look at him for an answer. He just shrugged and replied back as casually as if he were telling me that the roses in my garden had opened up already. "I got into a fight with Hinata and nearly killed her so Sakura and Naruto are working on keeping her alive." He leaned back against the wall and I stared at him in shock.

"YOU DID WHAT?" I was off the bed immediately and no later was I in his face, yelling at him and punching his chest. "Why the hell would you do that? What the hell Neji why? Why?! ANSWER ME!" He simply '_hn_ed' and grabbed my wrists to stop my fists. I looked up at him, feeling my tears this time. "She was annoying me." And with that he dropped my hands and walked out of the room as if nothing were wrong.

I stood there, facing the wall, in shock with my hands out in front of me. And then I pulled them up to my eyes to hide them, the tears pouring down quickly in waterfalls of salt-water. Of all the people he could've nearly killed, it had to be Hinata? Why did it have to be her? She was the sweetest one out of all of us. She was the nicest, kindest person in the entire world and the only sister-like figure that I had. Sakura, Ino, and Temari, were all like cousins. Hinata was the one I held closest because she was so innocent and so easy to talk to, and the thought of her dying was not in the books for me.

"NEJI HYUGA I WILL GET YOU FOR THIS! YOU WILL PAY! I DON'T CARE IF YOU SAVED MY LIFE, YOUR COUSIN IS HALF DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!" And there I broke down crying again. I fell to my knees, facing the wall with my back to the door, because I couldn't stand the situation I was in right now.

I should've told Sakura to leave that bullet there, and let me die, so that I wouldn't have to worry about anyone…or anything for that matter.

**Sasuke**

I heard Tenten scream out at Neji.

"NEJI HYUGA I WILL GET YOU FOR THIS! YOU WILL PAY! I DON'T CARE IF YOU SAVED MY LIFE, YOUR COUSIN IS HALF DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!" I couldn't help but smirk. He was at the bottom of the stairs. "What's wrong Hyuga, you and your girl had a fight?" He gave me a look and then sent me a glare. "Shut the hell up Uchiha, I'm not in the mood."

He walked through the back door and into the yard, slamming the door behind him. I raised a brow. Someone had their period.

I turned back to face the rest of Akuri Kaze. They were all staring at me. "What?" They all shook their heads, laughing a little and I leaned back against the couch and rolled my eyes. Ino and Temari were sitting on the couch opposite the rest of the gang so they were laughing as well. I just rolled my eyes. Hinata was about to die and all they could do was laugh.

Selfish gang people.

**Sakura**

I sighed as I finished sewing up the last bit of broken skin. Hinata had been screaming the entire operation but now she lay silent on the bed, covered in sweat and breathing heavily, but breathing, and with a beating heart and that was all that mattered.

Now it was time to go talk to Tenten. I could hear her crying from down the hall in my room. I slipped a new shirt over Hinata's head and carried her to her own bed before walking out of the current room and into my own.

I gasped as I saw Tenten in a corner of the room, in the fetal position, crying her eyes out. This was the most I'd seen her cry. She was rocking back and forth, like if she were possessed. "Tenten…" I stepped closer and she snapped her head up to look at me, sniffling. "H-How's Hina-chan?" I sighed and placed a hand on my heart and then opened my eyes with a big, relieved smile. "She'll do just fine. I patched her up in time." Her eyes seemed to have built in blow-dryers because her tears stopped immediately. Her entire face lit up. "Really?" I nodded and she jumped up and dashed toward her own room. I heard her stop halfway there. "Ooh…chest pain…" I looked out the door.

"You're not supposed to be running!" She groaned. "But I'm on the track team." I rolled my eyes….

"Tell them you just had an operation or something."

She turned and pouted at me, her bottom lip pink and glossy from the wet inside of her mouth. "But I like running, almost as much as Temari likes to carry her fan around."

I sighed. "When you pass out from heart failure and I'm not there to help you out, don't say it was my fault!"

She rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. "Alright, fine. I won't run track…"

I smiled. "Good…You can start in about another month."

Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "Month? B-but…"

I frowned. "Tenten…"

She sighed. "Yea, yeah, yea. I know." I smiled again and she walked through the rest of the hallway slowly. I couldn't help but laugh. So once again there was order in the house. I looked down at my arm. I had removed the bullet on the way here but I hadn't been able to disinfect it properly…or even bandage it for that matter.

I walked back into the room that had all of my supplies, threw it all in my bag, and walked back to my room where I began disinfecting it…let me just say, it stung like hell.

"AAAAAAGH!"

Maybe I shouldn't've waited so long…

"OW! OW! OOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW!" I looked at the deep wound as the alcohol disinfected it for the second time. It still stung as bad as the first.

I wiped over it again. "YOUCH!"

"Geez, you're crying over that little thing?" I blinked and looked up to see Sasuke.

I frowned. "I am not crying! And besides, I disinfected your wound with peroxide, not with alcohol!" He raised an eyebrow.

"And…what difference does it make?"

I replied back almost as soon as he finished the question. "Alcohol burns a hell of a lot more!"

He walked into my room with a simple 'hn' and sat down next to me, grabbing my arm and the half bloody alcohol pad. My eyes widened and I stared at him. "What do you think you're doing?" He raised his onyx eyes to look at me and my heart stopped for a second. "I'm cweaning your boo boo wittle girwle." That was all he said and I couldn't help but laugh at how he said it. He sounded like a four year old. I could see his annoyed face next to me and I stopped almost immediately.

Then he pressed the pad down onto the wound and I let out a hiss. "OUCH! Sasuke be careful with that!"

He turned to look at me and then just '_hn_ed'. Great. Two stoic bastards in one house…and the bad thing, I liked one of them.

The stinging stopped and started again as he wiped the pad over it, putting a little force into it this time..

"OW OW OW OW OW OW!" I looked down at it. "Sasuke, be gentle! Don't do it so hard."

**Temari**

"OW OW OW OW OW OW! Sasuke, be gentle! Don't do it so hard!"

Everybody's ears seemed to perk up at that and all of our eyes widened. I looked up the stairs and twitched. Sasuke was raping Sakura?

I turned to look at the remaining boys in front of me…Lee, Kiba, and Shikamaru. They were all looking back at me, as if to say _'aren't you gonna go check to make sure they're not making a baby?'_ Well too bad for them because if they were I wouldn't want to walk in on them…not for the fact that it would be invasion of privacy but for the fact that I'd be SCARRED FOR LIFE!

"OUCH! I TOLD YOU TO BE GENTLE!"

Well being scarred for life was probably better than them on my bed…and better than a pregnant Sakura so…

I sighed. "I got it." I stood up and walked up the stairs. I turned to look into the room I shared with Ino and Sakura and saw Sakura on the floor with Sasuke wrapping her arm up in bandages. She turned her head. "I could've done it myself."

I slapped my forehead. This was what she was crying about. I thought something important had happened, like she'd become a woman.

"Well, if you did do it yourself you'd still be crying."

"I wasn't crying!"

I laughed and they both took notice of me.

"What're you doing here?"

"Laughing at you two."

Sakura gave me a look. "Ha, ha, very funny. Seriously why are you here?" "It's my room too and I wanted to make sure that if you both were losing your virginity that it wouldn't be on _my_ bed."

They both twitched. I raised a brow. "What?"

"So…you thought that we were…"

"Yes…"

"Why would you think that."

I cleared my throat and pretended to be Sakura. "OUCH! I TOLD YOU TO BE GENTLE! OW OW OW OW OW OW! DON'T DO IT SO HARD! OW! BE GENTLE!" I put my hands on my hips. "You're telling me that doesn't sound wrong to you?"

They both blushed, well more Sakura than Sasuke. "Um…yeah, it kinda did." "Kinda? You sounded like Uchiha was raping you." They both turned to glare at me and I glared back. Sakura looked away quick but Sasuke kept on glaring.

I glared at him but he was pretty good, that didn't mean I was going to give up.

I glared at him…he was getting kinda creepy looking…

Eep! Look away! Look away!

I closed my eyes and Sakura laughed. I practically heard him smirk.

"Yeah, well, you two lovebirds go back downstairs I don't want anyone getting freaky in my bedroom." They looked at each other, and then back at me. I laughed and dashed out the door in a hurry, back down the stairs.

When I got there I was surprised to see that Naruto was back down there. "Hey little dude…" He grinned. "How's Hinata?" "Sakura said that she'll be perfectly fine! She's really good at medical stuff."

I nodded. "Yeah, that's the reason she's the head medic." Ino jumped in immediately. "Oh, so me being the Mind Destruction Specialist has nothing to do with it?" I looked her over once and then shook my head. "Not really, no."

Everyone laughed and I grinned big. That was my job, to lighten the mood.

I turned to look at Ino, who was glaring big at me. I raised a brow. "What?" "You think Sakura's better than me!" I shook my head. "Yeah, at medical stuff…you started after her and you, surprisingly, didn't give up but you did sort of a lazy job with it. She kept going and you know she's our little nerd, she studied the thing inside out. Although at torture methods…you're better…I don't think tickling someone until they pee their pants works all that well."

I laughed with everyone that time.

"YEAH SHUT UP TEMARI! THAT'S WHY YOU ADMITTED THAT YOU LIKED WASHIMARU IN THE EIGHTH GRADE AS SOON AS YOUR PANTS WERE SOILED!" I blinked and frowned before yelling back. "YEAH AND THAT'S WHY YOU KEPT ON STARING AT SASU ALL THROUGH YOUR EIGHTH GRADE YEAR!"

I smirked as I imagined her blushing. "OH YEAH WHAT KIND OF NAME IS EAGLE?!" I shouted back almost immediately. "WHAT KIND OF A NAME IS STAB?!" "JUS-JUST SHUT UP!" I laughed loudly just to tick her off and turned to look at everyone else. Ino was on the couch next to me, laughing her guts out. Naruto, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Lee were all staring at Sasuke. He raised a brow and looked at them all. "What?" "She had the hots for a guy named Sasu…It could be a code name Sasuke. Ah? Ah?"

Kiba nudged him and laughed. Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Correction, she said she liked a guy named Sasu in the eighth grade. She didn't even know you existed until the ninth grade."

He turned to look at everyone else with a smirk.

"_Although _she _has_ been acting weirder around you lately." The boys all erupted into laughter, with the exception of Sasuke. "SHUT UP TEMARI! SHANNARO!" I laughed at her shout of anger.

"I killed two birds with one stone." I laughed. "It took a few tries but I did it." They all stared at me and I rolled my eyes. "I embarrassed both Sakura and Sasuke at once…duh…" Naruto, Kiba, and Lee made an 'oh' shape with their lips and Shikamaru just muttered an 'obviously' while Sasuke sulked in the corner of the couch.

"Don't get me started on Neji and Tenten, though." "TEMARI SHUT THE HELL UP WITH THAT SHIT OR I'LL STICK A SWORD UP YOUR ASS AND RIP YOUR THROAT INSIDE OUT!" I laughed. "TENTEN, WHY MUST YOU BE SO HOSTILE?"

"HOSTILE MY ASS WHY MUST YOU BE SO BIG-MOUTHED?!" Okay, that ticked me off. "DON'T MAKE ME MAKE SAKURA HAVE TO OPEN UP YOUR BOOBS AGAIN!" I imagined her covering her chest and making a disgusted face. "SAKURA YOU SAID YOU DIDN'T CUT THEM OPEN!" "I DIDN'T! I CUT RIGHT ABOVE IT SMART ONE!" I laughed. "IT STILL COUNTS AS A PART OF YOUR CHEST SO TECHNICALLY SHE DID CUT IT!"

She let out a scream. "I'M GONNA GET BREAST CANCER!" "TENTEN SHUT UP! THE NEIGHBORS DON'T WANNA HEAR THAT!"

"YEAH AND NEITHER DO WE!"

I turned to look at the guys and they were all giving me weird stares. "What? Do you want to hear Tenten rant on how she'll walk around with a man chest for the rest of her life?" They all shook their heads.

"Thought so…"

**Neji**

I sighed and looked up at the moon. Okay…she hated me…just because I might've tried to kill my cousin. So what? Everyone tries it at least once in their life, and mine just happened to be today.

Oh right.

She didn't have a cousin. And Hinata was like a sister to her.

Oh shit I screwed up bad…

And I wouldn't blame her if she just ignored me for the rest of her life.

"Um, Neji?" I turned my head and looked at the person who called my name. Oh great, I'll give you one guess.

…

Sakura?

Where the hell did you get Sakura from?

Maybe in Uchiha's mind that would be the first person he would hope for but I was talking about _Tenten_.

"What? Are you here to yell at me some more?" She laughed nervously. "That's what this is about." I turned to look at her fully. "Go on." She sighed. "Um, remember that one time that I said I'm sorry?" I searched my head through the past month. "No…" "Well…don't make me say it again! Gosh!"

She turned and I couldn't help noticing a blush on her face before she turned. I chuckled a bit, she was funny. I saw her ears perk up and she turned to look at me. "What?" She grinned. "You laughed! At me!" She sounded rather happy about that. "What, am I really that stoic?" "Yes…" That was her immediate answer. I raised a brow. She scratched the back of her neck nervously. "Sorry but it's the truth! It sucks, don't it?" I blinked a few times and turned my head away.

"Yeah…" I heard grass rustle and in just three seconds she was sitting next to me, looking up at the moon. "Hey Neji, did you ever wonder what the moon is really made of?" I turned to look at her. "Don't tell me you're going to say that you think it's made of cheese." She laughed hard at that one. I raised an eyebrow and she shook her head. "Neji! This was supposed to be one of the cliché moments in the movies where both of the main characters have dead parents and they look up at the sky and ask a random question and end with a very cliché answer like '_the stars are all of the people that are in Heaven'._ You get it?"

I snickered a bit at that. "Yeah, and it's also the cliché scene where most couples kiss, isn't it."

She blushed and I chuckled and turned my head to look back up at the moon. It was fun messing with her head. "Hey Neji…"

I turned my head to look at her. "What?"

I didn't get a verbal answer. All I got was a pair of lips on mine. She was kissing me for once and not the other way around. I didn't think she would take that phrase seriously.

A gasp got both of our attention and we turned to see Sakura smirking, an evil glint in her eye. She turned around to skip in through the door. "HEY EVERYBODY! GUESS WHAT NEJI AND TENTEN ARE DOING!"

I blinked and Tenten was at Sakura's throat with a knife. "Say one more word and I kill you." She turned her head to look at Tenten and laughed. "With the state you're in?" Tenten smirked. "Yeah, I'm not the one with a bullet in her arm and stitches in her head." Sakura laughed at this. "And I'm not the one with stitches in my cardiac muscle."

Tenten looked confused. "The what muscle?" I could practically see Sakura rolling her eyes at this. "The heart muscle." "But I thought the heart was a hollow organ." Sakura slapped her forehead. "I give up. I won't tell just stop with this, it's torture trying to teach you about the abilities of the human body." Again, Tenten froze. "Eh? Say what now?" Sakura groaned. "Maybe Sai should've shot you in the head, it might've knocked some sense into you." And with that she was through the door.

**Tenten**

I let what Sakura said sink in as she walked through the door.

Sinking.

Sinking.

Sinking.

Processing.

Processing.

Processing.

_Ding!_

I frowned. "SAKURA I'M GONNA GET YOU FOR THAT!" And just like that I ran into the house after her. I stopped mid-way through the kitchen and clutched at my chest. "Ow, ow, ow." I heard a cackle from the living room. "HA HA! YOU CAN'T RUN!" I looked up and yelled back. "SHUT THE HELL UP! EVEN IN A PERFECTLY HEALED BODY YOU CAN'T RUN EITHER!"

Yeah, I was back, and alive.

* * *

_Yea...I know took more than a month, again, and I sincerely apologize but my cousins were over for a month from Florida so I was spending as much time with them as possible because I won't see them for another year._

So I barely had time to do this. I've been able to do this is like the past week. And here it is, the chapter you've been waiting for for so long [which I apologize a thousand times for].

Oh yeah, suspense questions:

Ahem:

Will Tenten really kill Sakura?

Will Sakura really keep her secret?

and most importantly...

Was Sakura really crushing on a guy named 'stab' in the eight grade?

I mean, I'm the author and I don't even know! =D XD


	10. Emotion

**Chapter Ten**

**Emotion…**

**Ino**

The next morning I woke up with a weird mood. Something was gonna happen today, whether it was going to be bad or good, I didn't know.

I guess this came with the visions and psychic abilities. I could sense when something was going to happen, and sometimes I could see what it was, but others…I couldn't. And sometimes it would happen and I would feel a déjà vu about it…

I sighed and stretched. I turned to look at Tenten, to see if she was still alright. Her face was twisted, contorted, as if she were in pain and I couldn't help but laugh. The face was funny but after remembering why I was looking at her in the first place, I shut up. She had her hand over her heart and pretty soon it was grabbing at her shirt, like something bad was happening.

I raised an eyebrow at this. She was acting weird for a girl that was asleep. Maybe she was having a bad dream, who knew, but it sure looked like it was bothering her.

Assuming that she would just wake up I clambered out of bed and walked into the bathroom to take a shower and get dressed. It was just my nature to shower as soon as I wake up. I couldn't stand looking like I had just woken up, and I couldn't help but want to make myself look even prettier than I already was.

I turned the knob to the water and set it on hot so that I could warm up my muscles.

I slipped out of my clothes and stepped in, letting the water run down my body. It felt so nice, so refreshing…so warm…

My mind drifted a bit as I scrubbed myself with the washcloth. I blinked a few times when it reached a TOI…Topic Of Interest that is.

I sighed. The fight. I shouldn't've been so moody yesterday. I could've saved a lot of trouble. I could've prevented Hinata's near-death experience, Neji and Tenten's fight, which I still had no clue if they made up with that, and most of all the almost destruction of my and Sakura's friendship.

I know it didn't seem like it but Sakura was my best friend, she'd always been my best friend, since we were about five or six. She was the sweetest girl I had ever met, and what was more was that we brought the best out of each other, we made each other better than before. That was the whole reason we had our rivalry. We made each other get better at things. I blinked water from the shower out of my eyes and thought about it.

And then my mind flashed back to after the fight.

"_Nng…" I heard her slowly wake up and I turned my head to look at her. Her green eyes slowly blinked open as she picked her head up, her pink hair coming out of the way of her face. I watched as she turned to face me. "I-Ino?" I smiled at her. "D-Does that mean I lost the fight?" I smirked. "Ha…I can't believe it either…" Her face fell. "To think that I tied with you…"_

Her eyes widened and she let out a small smile. I picked up her headband from the arm of the sofa and gave it to her. "You forgot this outside." She looked down at it. It was the headband I'd given her a couple years back. She looked up at me and I grinned. "I-Ino?" I blinked and opened my eyes to see her. She had tears in the corner of her eyes. I laughed.

_  
"Hey, that's not fair! I'm the one that wants to cry! Now take it!" She looked down and then smiled at me, nodding, before picking up her head band and placing it back on her head slowly._

_I suddenly stopped and turned to her. "Just don't expect me to go easier on you billboard brow!" She clenched her fists and turned to face me. "Yeah well that goes double for you, you pig!"_

We briefly glared at each other, and then we bust out laughing. We couldn't help it. We hadn't laughed with each other in years. It was usually at each other so we relished in this moment, just the two of us alone, able to spend this time healing our friendship just a bit more, so that the next time that we got competitive, it wouldn't have to come down to a fight for us to realize how close we really were…

I smiled, such a sweet moment. That was about the only good thing about that fight…and I guess that in the long run, it was worth it.

**Hinata**

I rolled over and slowly opened my eyes to look at my clock. It was eight thirty five in the morning. I heard the shower running, and figured it must be Ino. She was always up and showering at this time of the day.

I looked at the empty bed a few feet away and panicked. Where was Tenten?

And then it hit me. She had slept in Sakura's room, due to her bloody sheets. I would wash those later and in the meantime replace them with new ones.

I heard a small, tortured moan from the next room and I climbed out of bed and walked into Sakura, Ino and Temari's room. Ino had pulled out the air mattress for Temari, and she seemed rather comfortable with the blankets pulled up to her chin, her body curled up.

I turned my head to see Sakura sleeping, her hair still messy from yesterday's mission. She hadn't gotten Ino to fix it yet, so the ends were uneven and her hair was lopsided, not like the neat, long hair that she'd had twenty four hours ago.

I looked over at the bed Tenten was on to see her face wet. She was breathing out heavily, like if she were crying for real. She let out another strangled moan and I frowned, puckering my lips in wonder. I walked over to her slowly, agilely, and quietly. She was clutching at her tank top, right over her heart and my first thought was that she was having heart pains.

That is…until she let out that one word I thought I'd never hear come from her mouth during a dream. "Nng…Ne…Neji…" She let it out sleepily and I put a finger up to my chin. This was a little weird. And then it got scary as she said it a little louder. "Neji!" I raised my eyebrows. I was surprised Sakura and Temari weren't awake yet. And the fact that Ino wasn't hearing this was probably surprising to most people too.

And then she screamed at the top of her lungs, her eyes shooting open. "NEJI!" I couldn't help but wince at the loud audio emitting from her lips. I put a finger to my lips as she clutched at her shirt, fresh tears spilling out of her eyes. I frowned and sat down on the bed next to her feet. "What is it?"

She rubbed her eyes slowly and for a moment, I felt like the mother caring for a sick child at the moment.

"I…I don't know…I guess it was a bad dream." I heard the shower shut off and I grabbed her hand. "Come on, let's go back to our room to talk about it, alright." She nodded and slowly got out of her bed. She slowly turned the corner and followed me to my bed.

She climbed under my sheets and I looked at her for a second. "What was it about?"

She dried her eyes with her shirt but it was no use. I guess the thought of the dream sent her back into tears.

"I don't know why I'm crying but…I had a dream…about Ino's vision…"

I raised an eyebrow. "Which vision." I frowned. She clutched at the blankets now. "The one where she pulled us out so that she wouldn't have to tell the guys. That Neji was…unconscious…nearly dead…and Chouji was there, nearly dead too, and Naruto was unconscious but breathing but he had a lot of injuries, and Kiba had a hole in his stomach…and Shikamaru had a broken finger." I nodded. "Well…um..."

The weirdest look crossed her face, as if her emotions were fighting for dominance and I recognized them all.

Fear…

Sorrow…

Hatred…

And _love…_

"I dreamt that…Neji…" Her tears dripped onto the sheets. "I dreamt that he…didn't…that he wasn't…that he…" She was hinting at something. "That…" And she broke into tears again. This was weird. Tenten wasn't one to cry over a boy…especially not one as rude and self-centered as Neji. "Tenten, what happened. What did you dream about?"

"I dreamt that he had died, okay!" She broke down completely this time. She cried for so long and she cried so hard that it made me want to cry.

I rubbed her back soothingly as she let it out. Her just-past-shoulder-length hair covered her face a little as the tears fell in waterfalls to the bed sheets.

I heard footsteps enter the room and I turned my head immediately to see Neji there. I raised an eyebrow. "How…How did you get in here?" He picked up a key from his pocket and simply said "Master key…" in a monotone.

"But where did you get a master key?" He gave me a hardened look. "You don't need to know that." I raised an eyebrow. "Lowes?" He turned his head and rolled his eyes toward the ceiling.

I heard Naruto and Sasuke and everyone else downstairs. I looked up at him. "What are you all doing here?"

He shrugged. "We were bored so we decided since it's Saturday that we could come over and chill." I sighed. "Yes, you can, but…can you…wait…Tenten's having a rough start to the morning."

"Chest pains?"

I slowly removed my hand from her back as she turned onto her side to face the wall, her knees drawn up and the tears still streaming down her face. "Not exactly."

I walked out of the room, feeling the need to leave him alone with her, more so feeling the need to go brush my teeth.

**Tenten  
**I sniffled as Hinata stepped out and Neji stepped in further.

I felt shivers up my spine at the thought of the dream and my eyes couldn't help themselves. They let more water escape.

"What's wrong with you?"

I couldn't possibly tell him. I couldn't tell him how I dreamt about him dying. It would sound so desperate, so stupid.

So I stayed silent as I relived it, my eyes closed.

_Ino came into the room, a look of alarm on her face. I raised an eyebrow. "How'd it go?" She bit her lip._

"_Tenten…Neji's…um…"_

At the sound of Neji's name in that tone my ears perked up. "What? What about Neji?"

She bit her lip harder, so that blood trailed down to her chin. "Well…" She turned around to show that Neji was on her back. I noticed his hair untied and with a gasp a bullet hole in his left shoulder, not to mention a hole in the side of his stomach. With the exception that this one was deeper.

"_What! Go heal him! Now!"_

I felt the tears silently roll down my face but I didn't care.

"Tenten…I'm sorry…"

I felt my eyes widen. "No…don't be sorry…" Sakura came in, saw my face, and looked down. "Neji's dead…"

I ran over and picked up his face with my hands. "Neji…" No reply, just his silver eyes closed. His face was scratched up completely and he had a pretty deep cut on his cheek that was dripping in blood.

"_Neji!"_

There was still no reply, just his hair framing his face and his breathing not reaching my ears. I guess it was true, but I didn't want it to be. To think that those beautiful silver eyes of his would never open again on their own…

"_NEJI!" And that's when I lost it and woke up._

I felt the tears pour down my face as I thought about it. I just let them fall as Neji sat on the edge of my bed, next to my back.

"What happened?" I clamped my eyes shut as more tears escaped.

"Just promise me one thing Neji…" He leaned over me and raised a brow. "Um…okay…what?" I breathed in and let it out as a strangled whisper. "Don't you ever leave me…got it…" He answered in a monotone. "How can anyone stay with you with breath like that."

And I tackled him. I couldn't help it. He was just so…I don't know…

I cried into his chest and he had no choice but to lie down on the bed with me.

I grabbed at his button up shirt and cried into the tank top that was underneath it. He, unsurely, patted my back and then slowly rubbed it. That just made me cry harder. Here he was, comforting _me_ of all people. Why me? Why me when he was the one that might possibly die in the near future.

I was letting out my emotions so easily for this boy that I'd met a month and a half ago and I couldn't even explain to myself why. Why was it so easy for me to cry over a boy I had practically just met? Why?

Could it be?

No it couldn't.

I couldn't possibly…_love_ him…

No…

Could I?

**Sakura**

I yawned as I came down the steps. I fell down the last four stairs when I heard Sasuke's voice. "You look like road-kill with that hair."

"Agh!" I rubbed my head and then my lower back as I opened one eye to look at him. Naruto and Kiba were laughing like crazy and Shikamaru was smirking, amused. I looked up at Sasuke. He was the only one that didn't seemed amused, he seemed more _be_mused. I blushed and pulled my legs up to my chin and then it hit me.

"What the hell are you guys doing here!?"

*** * ***

I walked back up to my room to wake Temari and Tenten up for breakfast, Hinata had finished cooking for everyone here. I walked in and was surprised to see that Tenten wasn't in her bed.

I walked into the room completely and slowly shook Temari awake. "Temari, Hinata's done with breakfast." She sat up. "Cool…"

"Hey, where's Tenten?" She looked around the room and shrugged before she stood up from her bed.

I twitched at what she called 'sleep wear' every time I saw her. She was wearing a tank top with no bra and her panties. "Temari…you might want to add a bra and shorts to your outfit…" She raised an eyebrow. "Why? I'm always like this, you should know that." I sighed. "The boys are downstairs."

She said the same thing I did.

"What the hell are they doing here?"

I sighed, shook my head, and walked out of the room and back into the hallway to see if Tenten was anywhere on the second floor.

I froze as I looked into her room.

She was asleep alright…

But next to her was Neji.

She had her arms up to his chest and he had fallen asleep next to her, his arms wrapped around her.

I felt a sudden flutter in my heart and a tickle in my stomach as I looked at them. They looked so cute together, cuddled up like that.

Too bad I wasn't nice enough to let it stay that way.

I smirked as I ran down the stairs, dashing around Temari quickly.

I walked into the kitchen, my head held high, as I looked at them all. "You won't believe what I just saw." I smirked at Ino and she raised an eyebrow. And then she got my arrogant look.

This was perfect blackmail not just for me to get Tenten, but for Sasuke to get Neji…

Not that I cared about Sasuke blackmailing Neji…or anything…you know…heh…

"Neji and Tenten…"

"Where are they anyway?" Temari looked around the room and I twitched in annoyance. "I was getting to that." She shrugged and took a bite out of her toast. "I saw them sleeping together on Hinata's bed."

Hinata rolled her eyes. I turned to look at everyone else's reaction and was deeply satisfied.

Sasuke had an evil smirk on his face while Naruto's eyes widened. Shikamaru just yawned and fell asleep lazily. Jerk. Lee's eyes turned to dinner plates and his bushy eyebrows went up into his bowl cut. Kiba's face was twisted into amusement as his small white dog, Akamaru, barked. Temari was laughing her ass off, while Ino was grinning devilishly.

And all at once everyone but Hinata stood up from their seats and ran into the next room, probably to go see if it was true.

Heh, Sakura you're a bitch. But a good bitch.

**Tenten**

I groaned as I heard more voices. This was annoying. I couldn't sleep, even after I was having a nice dream.

It could've been about Neji…maybe.

Okay yea it was…but that didn't mean I liked him or anything.

I heard a laugh and I let a tired moan escape as I pulled myself closer to the warm pillow next to me in an attempt to just go back to sleep.

"Look…now she's cuddling with Neji!"

Wait a second…

Neji?

I was cuddling into Neji?

My eyes shot open and I brought my arms to my chest quickly, embarrassed. I turned onto my back to see everyone else standing in the doorway. I felt my face turn a tomato red and I brought my hands down to my sides.

They were all smirking at us, more so at me, as I stood up from the bed and walked over to the door. "What are you all doing here? In case you didn't know this is my room…"

Naruto grinned. "Sakura said we could come in here." I frowned at the image of Sakura…

"Forehead girl, you're gonna pay!" That was all I said before I walked through them out the door, slapping a digital camera out of Sasuke's hands.

----

"SAKURA!" I stomped into the kitchen, feeling completely pissed off. She looked up from her plate. "What?" I cracked my knuckles. "Why would you, in your right mind, tell them all to go to my room to watch me sleep?" She put on a false confused face. "I didn't do that." I rolled my eyes. "Naruto told me you did, don't try to bullshit me."

She frowned instantly. "I'm gonna have to kill that loudmouth blond someday." I crossed my arms as I glared at her intensely. "Do you have any idea how embarrassing that is? I have one bad dream about him and I wanna give him a hug and I end up falling asleep with him and you just have to go and mess with me."

Her eyes blinked from falseness into true confusion. "So you had a bad dream about him." I felt my eyes widen and I turned my head to hide my tears. I bit my lip to keep them from coming down. "Yeah, so what?"

She was next to me in a heartbeat. "What was it about?" I sniffed back a few more tears as I looked up at the light. "I'd rather not talk about it…"

Sakura brought me over to the couch in the living room and sat down next to me. "What happened? I want to know. I sighed. "I said I'd rather not talk about it." The tears at the edge of my eyes slowly escaped and I hastily wiped them away.

"Tenten, please, I didn't mean to. If you would just tell me…" I sniffled and shook my head. "No…" She frowned. "Tenten…tell me, I understand it was a nightmare but just tell me what it is about it that makes you so paranoid."

I gave in. "Fine alright! I dreamt that he died! Are you happy now?!" I clapped a hand over my mouth, realizing how loud I'd said it. I felt more tears pour out of my eyes out of embarrassment and sadness. I didn't want to think about him dying…I couldn't think of it.

I heard footsteps run down the stairs but I didn't care, I kept crying. It was terrible. I still didn't know what it was about him that made me cry so much…Maybe I had a soft spot toward him.

I curled up on the sofa, putting my legs up to my chest and lying on my side.

I let my tears escape slowly, let them run down my face and onto the couch. I heard Sasuke call up the stairs. "Yo Neji, you're girl's crying for you!" I looked up and glared at him. "I'm not crying for him." He smirked. "Okay then. Neji, you're girl's crying over you!" I scowled at him. He wasn't getting it. "I'm not crying over him either and I'm not his girl!" The truth of my own words made me feel twice as bad.

I fought back my tears easily this time, because the mere thought that he was comforting me an hour earlier made me feel better.

Temari's voice rang out. "So first you go to embarrassed, then you go to mad, then you go to sad, then you go to mad again…someone spell period for me." I couldn't help but laugh at that. Temari and Hinata were about the only people that could make me go from sad or upset or angry or depressed to happy and full of laughter.

All of the boys raised their eyebrows at this and I looked around the room at them. "What?" They just sighed and rolled their eyes as if to say 'if you haven't seen it by now, then you'll never see it'. I shrugged and rolled my eyes, wiping my tears.

"So…what are we gonna do today?" I asked it randomly, feeling bored already. They shrugged and gave me a look. "What?"

"You're the gang leader with the perfect accuracy who has the best grade out of the entire school in math…" I looked around the room at everybody… "Okay…and…that doesn't mean I'm genius enough to figure out what two bastards, three idiots, two geniuses, a dog, a comedian, a medic, and a weapons specialist would want to do together…"

They all gave me 'WTF' stares and I blinked. "What?" Temari sighed. "So you could come up with all those stereotypes in less then a second but you can't come up of something fun to do?"

My eyes widened. "Ooh! How about we go knock out bar security guards to go in and play darts!"

They all really gave me 'WTF' stares and I blinked. "What?" Sakura jumped in immediately. "Tenten…have you done that before…" The look on her face told me she meant business, that if I said I did, she would try to kick my ass and with those man muscles and my heart at it's weakest, she had the advantage. I looked right and then left before lying directly to her face.

"Noooo…" I stretched out the 'o' a little too long and that's what gave it away.

"Damn it Tenten you did enough of that up in Suna and now you're gonna try it in this dump of a town where even security guards take steroids and rape fifteen year old girls!" I winced. "Well when you put it like that it sounds kinda stupid."

"Well no shit knife brain!"

I grinned at that.

**Neji  
**I looked out at everyone from the top of the stairs. That was awkward, I woke up and saw everyone looking at me asleep on…

Oh…

That's why…

Yeah…I fell asleep cuddling with Tenten…okay weird but true…

And then I'd heard said person scream out.

"Fine alright! I dreamt that he died! Are you happy now?!" She dreamt that who died? And why was she crying so loud? How bad was it.

I couldn't help but smile to myself as she suggested darting in a bar. That was just so…_her_…she would be the type to actually do that and then knock out every other staff member in the bar that tried to make her leave.

I stepped down another step, to get a better view of everyone. No one noticed me yet, but I wasn't complaining, it was actually nice to see that no one had seen me.

"How about bowling?"

A glint flashed in Tenten's eye for a quick second and Sakura shook her head. "No…Tenten's gonna kick our asses with her perfect aim…" Tenten slouched over as soon as she said that.

"Skating?"

"Ice or roller?"

They thought for a moment.

"Um…well it's nearing winter so I'd say ice…"

Sakura smiled and Ino gave her a disgusted look. I felt confused. Why would Ino give her a disgusted look if all she did was smile?

And then I traced the angle of her eyes.

So it wasn't her smile…

It was her hair.

"Hey Sakura!" She turned to look at Ino. "Huh?"

She pulled on her arm. "Come with me for a second." Sakura seemed confused but Ino pulled her away anyway.

For a few minutes all we heard was "Ino, that's too short! No don't snip that! Agh! Hey…not bad…" That and the sound of scissors clipping hair off.

And then Sakura came out of the bathroom, her hair completely even and fixed, shiny and healthy again.

Something told me that Sasuke was in for it.

**Sasuke**

I turned my head away from her to stop my blush. "Sakura-chan, you look so cute!" I heard Naruto be the first to comment. "I agree for once pink-chick. You look cuter with short hair." Everyone nodded in approval, that is with me as an exception.

They all turned to face me. "Sasuke…" I raised an eyebrow. "What?" Temari smirked. "Say something nice about our cherry blossom before she shoves her fist up your ass and turns it inside out." I twitched and sighed. "Her hair looks…okay…I guess…" I lied. Her hair looked cute and she looked insanely hot…

Not that I'd ever say that out loud…oh no…

That'd hurt my pride way to much.

She somewhat lost that spark in her eye and her head hung a little lower and I guess Ino noticed because the next thing she did was spaz.

"She doesn't look okay, she looks hot! And if you fail to see that then you're blind as ever so go get an ocular exam and while you're at it…um…"

Tenten cut in for her. "Go fuck yourself!" Ino nodded. "Mm hm!"

At this Naruto, Lee, and Kiba broke into laughter while Shikamaru smirked amusedly. Temari laughed with Tenten while Hinata shook her head, a small but fond smile on her face and Ino boring holes into my head and Sakura…Sakura looked a little disappointed and upset.

Not that I cared or anything…

It just hurt me a bit to see a girl cry…

But then again I didn't do or feel anything when I saw Tenten crying. I just teased Neji for it…which was pretty funny…until she started death glaring at me.

Okay so maybe it made me feel a bit guilty when I saw _Sakura_ cry. "One: I'd rather not…And two: I didn't even think the word 'ocular' was in your vocabulary." I gave Ino a smirk and she frowned. "Yeah well, you'd rather not cuz you'd rather fuck Sakura instead."

At this Sakura's eyes got wide and she turned her head in embarrassment. I blushed lightly, not enough for anyone to notice unless Hyuga woke up.

Well luck must not be on my side today.

"Look, he's blushing." I slapped myself mentally and looked up the stairs to see him right there, acting as if nothing happened.

"Oh shut up at least I didn't spent an hour and a half cuddling with Tenten while everyone else was downstairs talking."

He glared down at me and replied back easily. "At least I didn't think of a cheesy excuse for not telling Sakura how much better she looks with short hair! All you said was a simple 'she looks okay I guess' when you know that you think that she looks insanely hot…"

I twitched. Damn he was good. And then it hit me. "Well at least I didn't sleep with her." His eyes widened and then he glared. "I never slept with Tenten."

I laughed cruelly. "Yes you did, upstairs, about ten minutes ago or did you forget already. You were both asleep."

He smirked. "At least I didn't kiss her in the hallway."

Oh shit…he knew…

I was done for.

**Sakura**

I tried to hide my shock and let full blown horror take it's place. He did kiss me in the hallway but I didn't think anyone knew that.

"What would make you think I did that?"

Neji just shrugged and replied as calmly as possible. "One of the school guards caught me skipping class and brought me over to his office for questioning which in case you didn't know, was the office that had the video camera TV's. So I simply knocked him out and got bored. So I ran through tapes of the security cameras and saw you two."

Oh bleep.

I rolled my eyes. "Are you sure it wasn't Sasuke and some fangirl because I've never kissed him in my life."

He smirked. "You're lying through your teeth. You're the only girl in the school with bubble-gum pink hair and green eyes."

Oh bleep…again…those videos were in color? Whatever happened to good old-fashioned black and white?

The smirk Sasuke had had disappeared in a flash.

Neji smirked and Tenten laughed next to me. "Ha ha! Karma's a bitch but that's why I love it!"

Ino, Temari, and Hinata laughed as well, which was surprising on Hinata's part because I thought she was disappointed in me.

Oh well…

Either way that was embarrassing.

"We didn't kiss!"

Neji smirked. "Maybe you didn't kiss him but he kissed you…no wait a minute…I recall you kissing him and then him kissing you…"

I blushed. "I didn't!"

"Yeah…okay…just like you didn't throw yourself on him yesterday." I glared at Ino. "Shut up Ino!" She smirked. "No! I don't think I will!"

I crossed my arms.

This wasn't going anywhere.

**Tenten**

I sighed. "Alright you can stop arguing and SHUT THE FUCK UP now!" Everyone winced at my loudness. I'd went upstairs to go brush my teeth, and when I came back down, Sakura and Ino were at each other's necks with butter knives.

The guys were all smirking amusedly but Hinata was shaking her head and Temari was in full blown laughter ("Ha, ha! They're using butter knives to try and kill each other!).

They glared at each other, at the point of pressing the knives into each other's throats. "Drop the kitchen utensils." They dropped them and replaced them with their hands. "Keep your hands to yourself!" They both brought up their legs to kick and I pulled out two kunai.

"Will you two just stop fucking around with each other and calm the fuck down so we can get ready and go to wherever it is the fuck we're going?!"

And I chucked the kunai at their legs which they brought down as soon as I let go of the kunai, which embedded themselves into a target paper on the wall…

Oh shit.

I just made a hole in the wall.

Um…why don't we just fast forward to the skating, shall we?

----

This sucked bad.

I was clutching onto a wall in the skating rink scared half to death of falling if I let go while everyone else was having fun. Sakura was competing with Ino in a 'Who can skate better' contest and at the same time a 'Who can skate longer without falling' contest. Temari was speed-racing and Hinata was just skating like a normal person.

Neji and Sasuke were skating backward out of boredom and Naruto was jumping around, trying to do tricks on the rink, and falling often.

Shikamaru had his hands in his pockets while he was skating, so he looked bored and tired.

Kiba was speed skating right behind Temari with Akamaru in his hands.

But me, no, I had to be grabbing onto a wall for support. I mean, sure I had good balance, but not on skates…or at least ice skates.

Someone stopped right next to me and reached a hand out. I looked up to see Neji standing there, an eyebrow raised. I blushed a little, remembering this morning, and looked at him confusion. "Are you going to stand there all day or are you going to skate?" I understood now, so slowly, I reached out on hand and grabbed onto his. He grabbed it tight and brought me out to the rink. I smiled shyly at him and he just smirked.

"I don't know how to skate so you better not let go." His smirk widened. "Yeah, that's your reason for grabbing onto my hand so tight." I frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?" "Nothing." And he skated forward, pulling me behind him.

"How the crap can I skate?" He turned backward, switching his hands to stay holding mine to make sure I wouldn't fall.

"Just move your legs side to side." I looked down and slowly leaned to the right, then I leaned to the left. I realized I was slowly catching up to Neji.

"Hey, this isn't so hard." He gave me a look. "No shit Sherlock." I couldn't help but laugh at that. I knew that was obvious to people like him, who were good at pretty much everything, but to people like me, that would've been one of the greatest discoveries in the world.

He didn't let go of my hand until after we turned the curve. That's when things got tricky. I had to wave my arms back and forth to balance myself. Now it got pretty scary. I couldn't balance myself out well on the ice even if I knew how to skate.

I gasped as I went to turn the next curve and slipped. I grabbed onto Neji as a resort so that I wouldn't fall and he instinctively wrapped his arms around me to keep me up. A random girl passed by and laughed. I blinked a few times.

Um okay, that was weird.

Then another one passed by and glared. I raised a brow… "What?" She turned her head away rudely. "Look _bitch_ I nearly fell so don't get so pissed off over something that would never happen!"

It felt like I was given a hard slap to the face when I realized what I'd said.

Well as a matter of fact, I had been slapped. The bitchy girl had come up and hit me. Oh hell naw.

I let go of Neji, instantly forgetting about my sucky balance, and chased her around the rink.

She was good at skating, and she was fast, so she tried to go through obstacles but they didn't work on me, surprisingly.

"Get back here you bitch!" She jumped over someone who had fallen and I did the same easily. She kept skating around the corner, weaving her way through the crowd that was there. I followed her path exactly until I was out as well. I was hot on her tail, about to grab at her shirt when she ducked and dove under some dude's legs.

I ground my teeth together and slid on my shoulder and then I quickly got up to keep chasing her.

My breathing quickened and my chest started hurting. Shit. I forgot about my heart. I gained speed on her anyway and just as I was swing her around and punch her across the face, I lost my balance and fell to the ice, coughing a little blood into my hand.

Sakura was next to me minute.

And so was Neji.

My heart was hurting badly. It felt like it was about to burst, and not in a good way. I couldn't help it, I clutched at the place where my heart was and held myself up with my left arm. Eventually my left arm gave out and I bumped my head against the ice, going unconscious instantly.

**Neji**

I picked Tenten up bridal style so that Sakura could take a good look at her. She sighed and pressed her fingers into the side of her neck, waking her up completely. She looked to her right, then to her left, and then put a hand on the back of her head. She looked confused. "Hey Sakura, why is there a hot guy picking me up?"

She clapped a hand over her mouth. "Holy shit! Neji erase whatever I just said from your mind!" I raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Sure…whatever." Sakura rolled her eyes. "You guys can't stop flirting for more than a second, can you?" She turned and gave Sakura a look that I chuckled about. She was so funny to me, so entertaining.

…

Don't think wrong perverts.

She let out a loud hissing sound and her hand shot to the place where she hit her head. "Ow! Fuck! That hurts!" Sakura removed her hand and rolled her eyes at it. "It's just a small…oh wait…it's on your head…right…SHIT!" I winced at the high velocity of her voice. "You've got a bruise on your head! We have to go check it to make sure you don't have any internal bleeding in your brain."

Temari stopped her speed skating next to Sakura and gave her a look. Sakura turned to her. "What?" Temari raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, it's just that, I didn't know Tenten had a brain." Tenten groaned. "We could do without the sarcastic comments at this moment you conceited self-centered idiotic dumbass who wasn't smart enough to pass third grade whilst Sakura nearly skipped third grade." Temari laughed. "If that was your idea of a spaz or speech, it wasn't great at all. Why don't you go get that new president guy in the United States to help you write your next one?"

"You mean Barack Obama?" Temari nodded at me and Tenten rolled her eyes. "One because I can't afford it, and two, because what makes you think that he'll take some valuable time of his day to take care of his huge country to talk to a fifteen year old girl on how to write a proper speech or spazzing." Temari shrugged. "Well he gave a speech a few days ago to the American kids in school on how they should always try their best in school."

Tenten turned her head in confusion to look at Temari. "And you know this how?" She grinned. "It was on CNN a few days ago!" Tenten looked like she just mentally slapped herself. "Um…how did you get _American CNN _on our beat up TV?"

She gave a shiny, white, toothy grin. "I know how to hack almost as good as you and Hinata. That includes with satellites and TV!" Tenten rolled her eyes again. "Look Temari, this isn't funny! Back to the original topic. I do too have a brain!" Temari raised a blond eyebrow. "Are you so sure about that because back in the ninth grade you almost flunked science just because you fell asleep in most of your classes." I looked down at her. "You're a second type Shikamaru? Gai was probably right…"

She rolled her eyes. "No! I'm not a lazy bum with an IQ over two hundred!" Temari rolled her eyes. "You know, in your case, that would be an improvement!" She growled. "Look! I'm pretty smart but I'm not lazy." Temari smirked. "Said the girl who was the last one to wake up…or should I recap the amount of hours you spent in bed with Neji this morning."

Oh great…here we go again.

"Look, Tenten has a bruise on her head which could be causing internal bleeding and you're all sitting here arguing about who slept later?" Thank you Sakura.

"Why don't we take her to the car to check her out." Tenten tugged on my shirt and I looked down at her. She grabbed my hair and yanked my ear down to her face. Her hushed town was barely audible. "Can you convince Sakura to leave me off the hook? Put me down! I wanna at least kick the bitch's ass!"

I shrugged and whispered back.

"Ah, about that, you have a bruise on the side of your forehead, on your temporal bone, the weakest part of your skull, and you want to go fight?" She put a finger to her chin and then she yanked my head back down. "Yea that was kinda stupid but please get me off the hook! Please! Please! Please!" I sighed silently.

"Hey Sakura." She raised an impatient eyebrow. "Look, it's a bruise on her head but it's a small one, so there really can't be any internal bleeding if it's that small because if it were, the bruise would gradually be spreading."

I could tell she was mulling it over in her head, thinking about it, processing it. She sighed. "Fine…but no chasing after the bitch…" She turned her head to see the girl, her black hair long and layered, billowing behind her as she rounded the corner to where they were. Sakura turned back, a devilish grin on her face.

"We still may have to go home early soon." Tenten's face immediately turned disappointed. "What? Why? I was having fun…" Sakura turned her head. "When? Hanging onto the wall or hanging onto Neji?" She blushed and frowned. "Okay but why?"

The girl rounded the corner fully and Sakura reached out and grabbed her layered black hair and whipped her around. Her accented yellow eyes were wide open when one of them collided with Sakura's fist. That had to hurt, especially with Sakura's power.

She fell back, clutching at her eye and letting out loud curses to the so called yet infamously known '_pink haired bitch_', at which Sakura twitched. She turned to us with wide eyes. "That's why!"

And we were out like a light bulb. We ran out the place as quick as possible, kicking off our skates and slipping on our sneakers at the speed of sound, in record timing. Olympic runners doing a twenty meter dash couldn't have left the rink faster than we did.

We were in the two cars they'd brought in forty seconds flat and out of the parking lot in less than a minute.

A man with a well built chest and a red polo with _'Roller Rink Manager'_ written in white cursive writing ran out the door. "Don't come back if you're just gonna pick fights!" The girls laughed and I let out a cocky smirk. Someone cleared their throat and I looked down to see Tenten still in my arms…

In the boy's car…

With Uchiha…

Shit…

Three words…

_**WE**_

**WERE**

**DOOMED…**

**

* * *

**

Lolx sorry it took so long! This one I had to do in between homework, schoolwork, and classes. I've been working with this guy to get a scholarship to get into a private high school along with my two best friends and blah blah blah and a lot of crap you don't want to here...so here we go with the suspense questions:

What will Sasuke say when he sees Neji and Tenten in their position?

What will the girls say when they notice Tenten's not in the car?

And most importantly...

Are Neji and Tenten really doomed?

Find out in the next chapter of Destiny!

Tan tan tan!

[muah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaa!]


	11. Tactic

**Chapter Eleven**

**Plan**

**Temari**

I let out a small moan, disappointed. This sucked bad. This wasn't any fun at all. And to think, it was in a classroom. Geez, could this guy be any more idiotic?

Oh wait…that sent your mind to the gutter didn't it?

Oh…well then let me rewind to the beginning of class.

I walked into the class, somewhat excited about today's art class. We were to be going out to the courtyard to draw the scenery, the cute pink flowers that they had planted a few years back, the well cut grass, the cherry trees blooming.

And then we come back the next day our two-faced phony ass son of a bitch teacher decides to change his mind and say that we can't go outside because there was a high chance of rain.

That was complete bullshit. I had checked the weather this morning and it was supposed to be perfect out. Seventy eight degrees and not a cloud in the sky seemed perfect for going out and drawing, only ten mile per hour winds. My teacher was an idiot. That was one of the things I couldn't stand about him.

So now we were stuck inside the classroom discussing Van Gogh and Monet, people that had died already. I didn't see the point in talking about people that had long since been buried. I mean come on. They're _dead_. They won't be able to hear us…unless they're listening in from Heaven.

I sighed. I was bored out of my mind. I really should have been taking notes because there was going to be a _quiz_ on Friday, or in three days, but what good would that do? I learned about them in sixth grade and I didn't want to go through it again.

I popped off the top of my black gel pen and wrote my standard header which was my name, the date, the teacher, and what the class was about. I did little doodles on the sides, boredly. And then I slowly let my mind wander off to random thoughts.

Eventually, I got to the people I loved, how I would do anything for them. I smiled fondly as their faces flashed by my in my head. Tenten. Hinata. Sakura. Ino. Shikamaru…

Wait a second.

WHAT THE HELL? Shikamaru? How'd he'd get in my head in those thoughts? Okay so I admit I think he's kinda cute and his lazy-ness makes him hot. And the fact that he likes to stay in bed all day on the weekends just makes him sound downright sexy…but…

Damn, I lost my train of thought.

Oh yeah!

I kinda liked him, but kinda was just kinda and kinda didn't mean more than kinda, it meant kinda, which was nearly as low as nothing. Okay maybe I liked him a little more than kinda. Maybe it was more than a sorta. But sorta was just sorta and…well you get the idea.

Okay so I had to admit, we were all falling for at least one of the boys. Hinata was acting a ton shyer toward Naruto from when they first met and Sakura and Sasuke were showing their own abrasive way of flirting. Kiba and Ino I wasn't so sure about, but I remember that Ino had looked Kiba up and down the day we had met them, like if a buzzer went off in her head shouting: WARNING! WARNING! SMEXIINESS IN SIGHT!

And she had admitted it a day after which I found hilarious.

Then there was me and Shikamaru. We stole glances of each, at each other, when no one was looking. And we had this weird moment of complete blankness where all we did was stare at each other and smile, until that is, Tenten and Sakura entered the house and started screaming at each other about what had happened at the ice rink a few days ago.

And then there was Neji and Tenten. There was so much dirt on them it wasn't even funny.

They had slept together [literally], they'd most likely kissed a couple thousand times, Neji gave her CPR, he helped her skate on the ice rink. Basically they were just there for each other at all times. I wouldn't be surprised if by the age of seventeen they were married and Tenten had a kid on the way with him but neither were attending college because they wanted to continue their lives as gang leaders…or in the navy…

Possibility of that happening: 99.9999999999999%...

Chances of that _not _happening: 0.0000000000001%

I am such a good mathematician.

But it was completely obvious to everyone around them that they liked each other…

The only problem was:

They didn't notice it themselves…which sucked.

If only there was a way to get them to notice their own feelings as well as the others.

I fought back a gasp and a smirk slowly spread over my lips. Oh this was brilliant, yes very brilliant. I held back a small chuckle at the thought of it. It had hit me hard, like a punch to the face. But it was great. It was brilliant. I silently ripped the page of my notebook out and scribbled on the next one my brilliant plan.

----

I smirked as I trailed the hall to lunch. I knocked thirteen times on the door to abandoned classroom three hundred eighty six and when I heard a chimey '_come in' _I slammed it open, a broad grin on my face as I came face to face with Sakura, Hinata, and Ino.

They stared at me oddly. "Temari have you been getting high again?" I shook my head, the smirk on my face still in tact. "I have a great plan to get certain people to recognize their feelings for each other."

I looked out the door through a crack and, assured that there were no people in the hallway, slammed the door shut. I turned to them, my face looking most likely psychotic. Sakura, a little confused, blurted out. "You mean Neji and Tenten?" I rolled my eyes. "No, Karin and Sasuke."

She glared at me for saying it and I scratched the back of my neck. I didn't want to face her fists of fury. "Um, bad sarcastic remark so um…yeah why don't I just get to the plan. Huddle up!"

They all shared a look, shrugged, and then came over. We draped our arms over each other and I began explaining my plan.

"Whisper, whisper, whisper, whisper, talk, talk, talk, talk, scheme, whisper, scheme, scheme, scheme, whisper, chat, talk, discuss, discuss, discuss, discuss, discuss, whisper, whisper, whisper, whisper, hushed tones, hushed tones, hush- ?" Ino cut me off with a look of confusion etched on her face. "What the fuck are you saying and why the hell are you whispering it?" I smirked and cackled silently. "Because it fucks with the reader's mind and doesn't let them know what's going on so it leaves them clinging to the computer to find out what's gonna happen in the story. Muah ha, ha, ha!

They all stared at me. "What readers?" I rolled my eyes. "Geez you know nothing, do you?" They all gave me blank stares and I rolled my eyes. "Anyway! The real plan is to-!"

**Tenten**

I was jumpy.

"Sup Tenten."

"AAH!" Very jumpy. I was the only one in Kunai at lunch at the moment and the forty five minute lunch period was fifteen minutes in already. I hadn't seen them at all, whether it was crossing the hallway or coming out of their class. Every time the door opened I hoped that it would be one of them. And every time it did, I was faced with disappointment.

I scratched the back of my neck at the perplexed Sasuke. "Um…Emergency meeting…girls only." He smirked. "What, you gonna tell them you're preggo with Neji's baby?"

Random slapping/skin clapping sound!

"AAH!"

"YEAH DON'T TALK SHIT LIKE THAT IF YOU'LL ONLY GET YOUR ASS WHOOPED FOR IT!" I held my fist up high as Sasuke clutched his cheek, which was slowly turning red in the form of my knuckles.

I felt eyes on me and I turned and looked at everyone angrily. "What the fuck are you all looking at?" They all rolled their eyes and turned back to their food, beginning to discuss it. I rolled my eyes and sat back down. Sasuke slowly got up and cautiously took his seat next to me. "I was kidding!" I rolled my eyes. "I don't give a damn. The girls aren't here and the lunch period's a third over."

He raised an eyebrow. "So?" I raised my fist and he put his hands up to cover his face immediately. "Okay! Okay! Calm down!" I lowered it slowly and he did the same with his hands. "Alright so what's so wrong with that?" I sighed. "They aren't ever late to lunch. It's the one time we can hang out and have fun because we have barely any classes together. Say um…you're in Sakura's class! Where was she headed off to the last time you saw her?" He thought back on it. "Biology." He turned and took a bite out of his sandwich.

I rolled my own eyes. "That was more than an hour ago!" He swallowed. "Okay, that was the last time I saw her."

Someone sat on the seat next to me. "Saw who?" I turned and saw Neji sitting there. "Sakura. You had literature with Temari last period right?" He nodded. "Where was she headed when she left the class?" He shrugged and took a bite out of his pizza. "She's one fast bitch, you know that." I slapped the back of his head and he choked on his pizza. I laughed at the face he made while he cleared his throat and gulped down his water to make it go down.

I stopped laughing when I saw the face he gave me. I 'eeped' and turned to face forward, which nearly made me fall off my seat because I saw Shikamaru and Naruto, as well as Lee sitting in front of me.

"Woo!" I blinked as Kiba took his seat next to Lee and shook his head around. That was fast. They all got here super quick.

I heard a cocky voice behind me and I turned. "What are you looking for Tenten? Maybe a chest guard to assure you don't get shot again?" I blink and my eyes widen as I turn in my seat. He's standing there, towering over me, a cocky smirk on the face that looks so much like Sasuke's. His coal black eyes staring with a smooth criminal [[ha Michael Jackson]] intent. It seemed like now he could commit a murder and not leave a trace behind.

And I'd bet that with a little more practice and precision I could've been his first victim because Orochimaru would've shown him how to clean it up without leaving a fingerprint out.

A small look of fear escaped my mind and crossed my face for half a second as I looked him up and down. He seemed perfectly fine. I had missed almost completely the time I shot at him. And he was smirking, perfectly fine, down at me.

I felt a shiver run up my spine slowly and I fought down the urge to act as it did. Instead I turned in my seat and stood up to face him. He was a full head taller than me, maybe more. I looked up at him.

"The last time I checked mentioning gangs and or gang-related topics is against the school rules and is marked down in the code of conduct for an immediate Saturday detention, or did you forget?" He raised an eyebrow. "That's the best you can come up with?" I grinned, a look spread over my face, reflecting in those black eyes, that I myself only had seen once in my life…

I reached up my skirt and clutched onto the knife that was strapped to my thigh. "Of course not." I stepped a little closer to him and fingered the knife blade once before letting it go and I, completely gagging on my insides, wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him into a tight hug.

Oh no, that's not the worst part yet.

I quickly leaned in and started a slow kiss which shocked everyone in the cafeteria, silencing them. I used that as a distraction and whipped out my knife, stabbing him in the back and pulling it back out, watching the blood drip onto the cafeteria floor.

I smirked as I heard his scream, my eyes closed, as his lips parted from mine.

I opened them immediately, a devious smirk on my face. "That's for last Friday you fucker!"

And just like that I was out the door, pocket knife being wiped down with a few of the napkins I'd had. I turned for one last look at Akuri Kaze. They were all staring after me in shock, all of them with Neji as the exception. He looked somewhat hurt and angry and it pained me to see him like that. Was he mad because I kissed Sai? Or was it just a trick of the light.

No, I was really seeing hurt in Neji's eyes.

Oh damn, I did it now.

**Temari**

I smirked as I sat back, watching the girls grins slowly spread on their faces. This plan was golden.

I heard heavy footsteps and opened the door a smidge to see Tenten running around the corner, her pocket knife in her hand.

I pulled the door back immediately and pulled her inside. Then I shut the door. She gasped and dropped the knife before she looked around and sighed in relief, seeing that it was only us. I raised an eyebrow. "What? Gun-mans tried to jump you and you had your knife to deflect the bullets or were you getting jumped?" A devilish grin crosses her face, the kind I had only seen once. She smirked and stood up, dusting off her skirt.

"The best thing in my short life so far has just happened to me!" I rolled my eyes and was about to tell her to not even mention the super-long story that she was most likely about to hit us with when Sakura and Ino jumped for it. "What happened?! What happened?! What happened?!"

Tenten grinned. "Well, I was sitting next to Sasuke and Neji eating lunch when Sai came up. I stood up and kissed him and-!" We all twitched at this. Sakura and Ino didn't let her finish. "You kissed Sai? _That's _the best thing that's happened to you in your short life?" She shook her head in disgust. "Ew no! That was probably the worst other than the day…that…you know…" We nodded. "Then why'd you say that you just had the best thing in your life so far happen to you today?" She groaned. "Well if you'd let me finish, I'll get to the good part!"

We nodded and she continued. "Then when he was into it I pulled my knife out and literally stabbed him in the back and just ran out the cafeteria!"

We all let our jaws drop at that one. Tenten stabbed someone? More so on school grounds where she could easily be turned into the lazy policemen and be put in jail? "Are you fucking insane!?!" We all shouted it at the same time, including Hinata, which surprised me because she never curses.

She raised a brow. "Damn, no need for dramatic yells in unison. What the hell is this a soap opera?" We shook our heads. Sakura's eyes widened and she clapped a hand over her mouth before dropping them and blurting out, "And what did Neji do?"

Tenten raised a brow. "What do you mean?" Some of the spark in her eyes dropped. "How did he look at you after you kissed Sai?"

She turned her head and looked down. "I guess kinda hurt or sad or angry or something like that…he didn't look happy at all though." I sighed. Fuck. There goes my brilliant scheme.

Wait a second!

"Hey Tenten?" She looked up at me. "What if I found a way to get Neji to forgive you?" She raised a brow. "How?" I grinned. "You'll see. On Friday, skip school, all of us. We have something important to do. Give the news to Akuri Kaze that we won't be here on Friday!" Tenten put a hand up. "Wait a minute! I'm the leader of the gang!" I nodded. "And you are also the girl who broke your future boyfriend's heart."

She fumed at this. "What do you mean _future boyfriend?_" I grinned. "Oh, sorry! I meant your boyfriend!" She growled out lowly. "Look do you want him to forgive you for kissing him and then kissing another guy or not." She looked down and nodded and Sakura jumped from her seat. "AHA! I KNEW YOU GUYS KISSED!"

She blinked and then shook her head, to try to deny what was already proved fact. I laughed. "Tenten give it a rest! You can't deny something that you just proved." She crossed her arms and pouted. "Hmph! But I wanna!" We all laughed at her childish game and turned away from her, walking out the door, and not toward the cafeteria, but for the parking lot, where we'd be able to go home and escape the bustling faculty members looking for Konoha's new assailant.

----

**Neji**

I tapped my pencil on the desk impatiently for the bell to ring. This was getting on my nerves. Temari had sent me a text when I was in Literature that Tenten wanted to speak to me after school. I haven't been completely still since then.

It wasn't that I was nervous. No.

It was that I was furious. Furious because she had kissed another guy and particularly the leader of a gang that I absolutely despised because of the leader.

And thanks to her I hated him twice as much.

And deep inside, although I had some part of me that wanted so badly to forgive her, I had a part of me that deeply didn't like her for the moment either.

So I couldn't wait till the end of the school day so that I could spaz out on her for doing that and show her that no one toys with Neji Hyuga's heart, whether it's a girl he really likes or a girl he really loves…

And in Tenten's case, they were both the same thing.

**Tenten**

I was nervous. I had skipped school today with the rest of the gang. They'd described the entire plan to me, Chinese writing style. Left to right, top to bottom, middle to side, outside to inside. I was nervous. What if it didn't work? What if it made things worse? I would lose Neji without exactly losing him.

And I didn't want to lose him regardless.

Okay so maybe I had some type of feelings toward Neji but it was maybe a need for his opinion. Maybe I just liked him. Either way I wanted him around.

I turned to the right, not exactly focusing on the road, just following Temari in her Porsche and trying to keep up.

We pulled into the back parking lot of the school, on the semi-side, so that I would be out of view from the back door.

I flipped open my cell-phone and checked the time. One thirty two. Oh why did we have to get here on time, just three minutes before the final bell.

I counted down the seconds in my head nervously.

Two minutes to go.

I heard Temari and the girls silence and begin to get out of the car. I clamped my eyes shut and kept counting down.

One minute to go.

They made it around the corner, silently and just stood there, with an expressionless façade on each of their faces. They looked like they worked for the Secret Service with those faces on.

The bell rang and I clutched onto the handle bar tightly as I kept my feet planted to maintain balance.

I waited for the call that Temari would give me to go out and show myself.

I waited anxiously for fifteen minutes with nothing other than the sound of my own heavy, nervous breathing making a sound.

And then, finally, the back door opened and out of it I heard six pairs of feet exit the building and walk out onto the pavement, their feet slapping against it, until they stopped in front of the girls. I heard Neji's deep voice come first.

"Where is she?"

Temari had a sly edge in her voice.

"She has a surprise for you…"

**Neji**

"She has a surprise for you…"

I raised an eyebrow at that and looked toward the right as what sounds like a groan echoes through the parking lot.

"And what would that be?"

She smirked and snapped her fingers.

The roar of a motorcycle engine coming to life rang throughout the parking lot and soon a girl with wavy, just past shoulder-length hair, pulled into the parking lot, a red helmet secured onto her head. She parked in front of the girls, facing them, her back to us.

I raised a brow. Her white tank top rose a little when she reached up to take off her helmet, revealing two dimples in her back, which I fought down a blush for. A red belt was fastened tightly around her hips. Her tight skinny jeans lead down to some tall red Stilettos.

I raised a brow as she pulled off her helmet and hung it on her handle bars, shaking her hair back into place. I noticed that semi-tanned skin anywhere.

She turned to look over her shoulder, revealing her shining brown eyes.

"Tenten?"

She closed her eyes in a smile and nodded.

Temari and the other girls grinned.

I blinked as I got a good look of her with her hair down. She looked ten times as cute and she was super damn cute with the buns in her hair…

And those skinny jeans…She was killing them…in a good way…

The heels, that was the first time I saw heels on Tenten and they looked great on her…

Not that I'd ever admit that.

She climbed off the bike and leaned against the back of the seat, her hands on the giant tire, a little of her stomach showing as her shoulders went up when she put her hands on the tire. Her stomach was pretty toned from what I could see.

She smiled serenely, innocently, as if she didn't look like an American sex icon right now…and hell yeah she looked just like one. I fought down a blush as I took a clear, full view of her. Tanned skin, short, shiny, brown hair, long eyelashes, nice body…

So to put it shortly,

She looked insanely sexy.

Not that I'd admit that either.

Temari bounded up with Ino right behind her. "So…" Ino cut her short. "Wadda ya think?" I raised an eyebrow. I couldn't tell them the truth because then they'd think I fell into Tenten…which wasn't a good thing…but if I lied to them, Tenten would probably get mad and pummel me to the ground, if that was possible, and if she got upset, the other girls would do it for her.

Oh this was gonna be a tough decision…

**Tenten**

I kept smiling, although I couldn't wait much longer. My patience was running thin and all he was doing was staring at me. Staring at what I was wearing, my hair, my body…anything except my face.

And I knew exactly why…

Because he was afraid that if he looked at me, he would snap and just spaz out and he didn't want to do that.

I was afraid that if he did snap I'd lose it right there. I'd either get pissed and pummel him to the ground…

Or get upset and go off into the woods and cry…

He pursed his lips for a split second, as if he was thinking of an answer and then he rolled his eyes as if scoffing at himself before he finally put a finger to his chin, mulling over his answer, and opened his mouth to reply.

"She looks okay."

I had to fight the tears in my eyes and the lump in my throat to keep my smile up and sadly I was losing. They were pooling in my eyes, waiting for me to turn away so that they could fall. Sakura noticed and she turned to me, worried. I turned to look away from all of them, still smiling, and then, I let a cruel laugh escape my lips. I turned to him. "Okay…so I guess I look okay."

He raised an eyebrow. "I look okay because I don't have my ass hanging out and my nipples showing like Ami does…I look okay because I'm not a sex toy…and I look okay because I'm not your hoe girlfriend right? I look okay because all you got from me was a couple of kisses. That's the reason I don't look anymore than okay, right?" And with that I jumped on the motorcycle before anyone said a word and threw on my helmet and sped away and out of the parking lot, onto the highway, and to the forest.

**Neji**

Fuck. I was screwed. The girls were all boring holes into my heads with their glares and Sakura was cracking her knuckles menacingly. And I had a feeling that this time Sasuke wouldn't be able to hold her back.

I was standing there with my mouth hanging open. She had blown our secret…

And Sasuke had a devilish grin on his face.

I turned my head to glare at him. "You and Tenten…" I cut him short. "Oh shut up. At least mine wasn't on the school camera."

And with that I was off in our car and on my way to go find Tenten.

**Sakura**

I stared after Neji with my jaw open wide. This was crazy. They really _did_ kiss. She did know that we only meant it teasingly, right?

And now she blew their secret right in front of everyone…

Either Tenten was going to kick his ass for making her feel so crappy or they were both going to get in an extremely intense fight and end up falling on each other and making out in the end which would result in them going out, at last, like Temari had predicted.

I'd go with the latter.

I mean, I'd have a lot of injuries to cover but at least their endless flirting would end and their kissing could be in public…where I could easily take pictures for blackmail.

Muah ha, ha, ha, ha! I am so evil.

And then it hit me…

Tenten was wearing heals…

And she had a bad heart…

So let's just hope that they just made up the old-fashioned way…boring and cute…

Well knowing them that would be nearly impossible…

So she was doomed…

Oh we had to get to the forest…

And fast…

**Tenten**

I sniffled and wiped the ever-escaping tears from my eyes. He was a jerk. I looked _okay_? That was the most he could say…that I looked _okay?_ I probably shouldn't have blown our secret because that probably just pissed him off even more…

But it pissed me off that I skipped a day of easy A's to have my long planned apology rejected. This sucked bad. This wasn't fair. I was trying to fix things with him and he just brushed me aside with a simple _'she looks okay'. _Who the hell does that other than Neji stick up the ass Hyuga?

I heard a leaf crunch and I whipped out the pocket knife I'd quickly stuffed down my bra and chucked it behind me, toward the direction of the sound.

I blinked a few times and glared at a paler than usual Neji. He was staring at me in horror and amazement, as if he didn't know that I could easily throw a knife toward the direction of an original sound even if I were in a huge cage with some kind of spell that made the voice sound like it was coming from everywhere at once.

It took good science and listening skills but that was easy for me.

I turned back around quickly, rubbing the fresh tears that came to my eyes. He walked over and I put my hand out behind me. "Don't come any closer! I don't want you near me! You're an ungrateful, self-centered, cocky, conceited son of a b-!" I didn't get to finish my sentence.

I didn't get to finish it because his lips were over mine immediately. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pushed his body against mine, trying so desperately to get me to kiss him back. And sadly, I was weak enough to fall into it. I kissed him back feverishly, needily. I wanted him to be mine so badly and now that I did know it, I realize that he did as well. Why else would he be kissing me so fiercely, so passionately?

Did I really need any other reason besides the fact that I was most likely, not crushing on Neji…but falling in love with Neji? No. I don't think I did.

I found my hands tangled in his soft locks of dark brown hair and my legs brought up to his, my knees bent almost in a ten degree angle. His hands went down lower, slowly lower, to my hips. I smirked into the kiss. I pulled back purposely and he leaned down and kissed me again.

This was Heaven to me. His tongue ran across my lip and I opened my mouth to allow him entry. I searched around for a little before he came up and began wrestling with mine. I pushed against it and gasped into the kiss when he easily beat me. I felt him pull away and I brought him back down to kiss him.

We just stayed there for a moment, letting our emotions take control of our actions until we went a little crazy and started raising each other's shirts.

We pulled apart, cheeks pink, breathing heavy, looking a mess, and we just bust out laughing. This was pretty funny. I was sulking, crying even, for him to not come close to me. And he just plants a kiss on me and we start a twenty minute make out session. How did he do it? He was more addictive than nicotine, alcohol, and drugs put together.

And best of all, he was mine.

It was funny what a simple kiss could lead to.

Here we were, giggling and chuckling while we sat on the grass next to each other just watching the sparkles on the lake bounce here and there.

I yawned and he turned and looked at me. I blushed lightly. "Are you tired?" He raised an eyebrow and I nodded slowly. He put his arm out and I scooted a little closer to him and laid my head on his shoulder. Could this get any cuter?

**Neji**

Could she be any cuter?

She fell asleep about five minutes ago and now she was lying down on the grass with her head on my lap. She looked so peaceful like that. I gently stroked her hair, smiling and taking in her relaxed face.

A few leaves crunched behind me and I turned my head to see everyone else standing there. Sakura saw me stroking her hair and she probably thought wrong. "You killed her?!" I looked at her, confused. "Wait what?" She rolled her green eyes and opened her mouth and screamed out one word. "MURDER!"

My eyes widened. "No! She's asleep so shut up!" Her eyes softened in a heartbeat. "Awe…you're stroking her hair while she's asleep! That's so sweet!" I rolled my eyes and Sasuke stepped forward. "And you're doing it in public!" I raised my eyebrow and shrugged. "Okay? And your point is?"

I guess he wasn't expecting that because his eyes widened for a split second and then he continued. "Aren't you the least bit embarrassed?" I shook my head and he glared at me. "And since when are you not embarrassed to show Tenten affection in public."

I shrugged. "Since we started going out about half an hour ago…" Sasuke twitched and then he let out a psychotic laugh. "Ha! H-Ha…ha-ha! A-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" I raised an eyebrow. "What?" He laughed some more. "What?" He gasped for air. That was the most I'd ever seen him laugh in my life. "You kept denying that you had feelings for her and yet you guys go out now, two days later!"

I shrugged. "And. At least I made a move with the girl I like. The only thing you do with Sakura is insult and ignore her then turn around and kiss her and then walk away and ignore her."

He cracked his knuckles and Sakura blushed bright red. "HYUGA!" "What?"

He was actually losing his temper this easily? I'm good if I made him go this far overboard.

He inched closer and I just stared up at him with my eyebrow raised. Sakura stepped forward and grabbed his arm to pull him back, which ended up with him lying on top of her since she had muscles the size of a body builder's contained in those skinny arms. They both blushed bright red and Sasuke quickly got off of her and turned around, not bothering to help her up.

She sat up and put her legs together onto the grass, sideways, since she was in a skirt. "Damn! Thanks a lot mister helpful! You could've at least help me get up." He turned and held out his hand. "Oh no! Fuck you now!" She back bended up and slapped his hand away, then turned and walked away.

I blinked and stared after them. That kind of reminded me of something. And then it hit me.

"You know, you should go after her, that usually helps." He turned his head to look at me with a frown. "What? It'll show her you like her." I kept my lips shut with a smirk as he wracked his brain for a rebuttal.

He ground his teeth together. "Oh shut up!" I fought back a laugh. "I wasn't talking." He '_hn_ed' and turned away with his arms crossed. I chuckled and turned back to stroking Tenten's hair. She looked so peaceful, so cute.

And now she was mine. She was finally mine and I could show off to the world that I really did _like…_screw that…_love_ her and she was all I needed to be happy.

**Sakura**

I stopped halfway through the forest and looked up at a tree and then I smirked. I jumped on the stump and climbed up to the first branch before grabbing on, flipping around once and then landing on top of it. I reached up for the next one and started swinging around on it and then jumped to the top. I reached up for the next one and started flipping and swinging.

"You do know that your panties are showing, right?" I gasped and lost my grip on the tree before hanging on by the arms. I looked in the direction of the sound to see Sasuke there. "Don't do that! Damn. Do you realize I could've fallen and died and you wouldn't have been able to do anything. I could've broken my neck and you're hopeless with medical equipment so I would've been doomed. I-!" "Oh just shut up, please!" I stopped mid-rant and blinked with my index finger up.

"W-what?" He sighed. "Just shut up." I blinked a few times, fighting the tears that came to my eyes. What did he just say to me?

"W-what?" I couldn't help but repeat it again. I felt it building up inside of me. I felt it coming but I didn't want it to. He raised an eyebrow.

"Just shut u-!" "AAAACHOOOO!" I let go with one hand to sneeze into my sleeve and then sniffled. "What'd you say Sasuke?"

He gave me the biggest 'WTF' stare I've ever seen on any human's face. I giggled and swung up to the branch again.

"I see ice-cream, I see candy, I see Sakura's pink and red panties."

I 'eeped' and really let go this time. I felt myself falling and yet all I could think about was keeping my skirt down, not about how my back, head, and neck were about to shatter into a thousand pieces.

I felt something solid end my fall and closed my eyes, waiting for the pain but it never came. I blinked and tried to sit up but I couldn't. And then it hit me. Sasuke had caught me. I turned my head to look at him and blushed bright red. "Thanks…but next time don't sing about my pink and red panties."

He shrugged. "Yeah, sure, whatever." I slapped him across the face. "Don't be so insensitive either."

I fell to the ground with a thud. He let go of me. I frowned and looked up and glared at him. "What the hell was that for?" He shrugged, leaned down close to my face and simply said, "I felt like letting you fall. Ever heard the phrase _just get back up when love knocks you down?_" He smirked and pulled away while I turned a little pink. "Wait a minute. What do you mean when love knocks you down?" He smirked. "Nothing…except for the fact that I know you like me Sakura."

I stood up, cleaned myself off, and frowned. "Who told you that lie?" His smirked widened a bit. "No one did." I blinked. "Then what makes you think I like you?" He shrugged. "You showed me." I frowned. "I did what?" "You showed me." I blinked. "When did I ever show affection toward you?" He chuckled. "The time you kissed me in the hallway."

I blinked a few more times and then grinned slyly. "Oh…you mean like this?"

I stepped forward and connected my lips with his and he almost instantaneously kissed me back. I smirked and pulled away a couple seconds after and gasped when he brought his face down and kissed me again. I internally sighed and kissed back. He ran his tongue against my lip and I opened my mouth to let him in.

We wrestled and fought against each other. I knocked him down and smirked until he wrapped his arms around my waist and go me back.

Were we pulling an old Neji and Tenten thing?

I think we were.

We pulled apart and breathed heavily for air. "Um...wasn't that Neji and Tenten's thing?" He shrugged. "I don't know...what I _do_ know is that you just proved you like me by kissing me again."

I smirked. "And you proved that you're a real idiot for falling for that trick. You must like me because you're the one who wanted to kiss me back almost immediately after I pulled away and you wrapped your arms around me…" I blinked and looked down at his muscular arms hanging loosely on my hips now. He pulled me closer and I 'eeped' and blushed a tomato red. "And you just proved that you like me by blushing when I pulled you close. You could've just smacked me and pushed away but you didn't. And you still haven't done anything to get away from me." I blinked a couple times. "Huh?" "Exactly."

I frowned and crossed my arms and pouted. He raised an eyebrow and I stuck out my tongue at him. "Put your tongue away before I do something with it." I gasped and brought it back before he could come down and kiss me. He smirked at me. "Sakura." "Huh?" "You still haven't done anything."

I blinked and then pushed against his chest. He continued to pull me to him and for once I couldn't beat him, I wasn't stronger than him for once. I stopped for a split second and crossed my arms again. "Let me go." He looked up at the sky for a split second, pretending to think, and then he turned to look at me. "No, I don't think I will."

I frowned. "Sasuke please let me go." He smirked. "I will for a kiss." I glared at him. "You're a fiend." He shrugged. "Doesn't bother me all that much." I sighed. "Please Sasuke." His smirk stayed in place. "I'll let you go if you kiss me." I groaned. "But we just kissed can't you _please _let me go?"

His smirked widened. "I don't want to." I sighed and then an idea struck. "Fine then. You'll be able to carry me around all you want." He raised a brow as I brought my hand up to my pressure point and knocked myself out.

**Sasuke**

She went limp in my arms and I swear to anything I nearly dropped her skinny self. I picked her up more and then she unconsciously back-bended a bit. If it weren't for my arms, she'd be doing a bridge."

I groaned. Who would knock themselves out to prove a point. Ding I found someone. Her name was Haruno Sakura.

Why didn't I just let her go when she told me to so that now I wouldn't be stuck in this mess.

I looked back down at her and blushed a little. Her shirt had gone a little lower neckline wise and her line was showing, not to mention a lot of her neck.

I twitched as the thoughts ran through my head and then I mentally slapped myself.

No.

I wasn't going to have those thoughts in my head. I was in a gang, that was one strike against me. I didn't need rape to be added as another strike. I tried to pick her up a little more to keep her up straight but she kept bending backwards. I groaned again. "Sakura you are too hard to handle."

I tried one last time and failed again. I sighed and just gave up on it. I'd lay her down and wait till she woke up.

I leaned back against a tree and laid her down next to me. She shivered a little but didn't wake up. Her legs were together and her bottom half twisted to the side. One of her arms hung over her waist while the other one was rested out next to her head.

She looked so cute like that. She didn't seem so violent or aggressive anymore.

I felt my eyes grow fonder at the sight of her. Okay, so maybe she had a point, maybe I did like her. Maybe I more than liked her. I don't know.

I groaned. She had me confused.

----

The young Uchiha contemplated his feelings in a whisper. "Damn it! I think she got to me." He turned back to look at her and her still unconscious form.

He sighed.

"She really got me. I can't believe…I…like her…"

A contented smile grazed the pinkette's lips for a split second seeing as she had never been unconscious to begin with. She had heard the whole thing.

Like a fly on the wall, she was inconspicuous. And like a fly on the wall, she found out what she wanted to know.

* * *

_AWWWWWWWWWWWWWE! About time I know lmao I'm surprised I was able to update...anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter!_

No suspense questions cuz I feel too lazy to write them...although I bet you can think of them...

If you do post one as a comment and check the next chapter to see if it's answered muah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! I'm so lazy...

Peace out


	12. Back

**Chapter Twelve  
First Day Back**

**Tenten**

I sighed contentedly as we parted. I looked up straight into his silver-lavender eyes and I smiled. It had been officially three days since we'd started going out and we were at school.

We'd caught up with the guys at school and we'd stayed behind just to walk to homeroom at our own pace and no one else seemed to mind. They'd just smiled at us and let us be. I bet he appreciated it as much as I did.

He smirked and I reached for his hand but all he did was wrap his arm around my shoulders and walk me up to the front steps of the mostly glass building of the school. I smiled softly but fondly to myself. He was so sweet and so cute!

I heard a sneer behind me. "Well if it isn't the new couple." I blinked and looked over my shoulder and Neji's gray sweater to see Ami, Karin, Tayuya, Shiho, and Suki standing in a straight line behind us, all of them with their tight uniforms revealing too much, their arms crossed, and their Stilettos tapping noisily against the sidewalk. I wrapped my arm around Neji's waist, seeing as I was too short and too lazy and heated to put my arm up to his shoulder and keep it there.

We turned around.

"What do you want _now_?" They tapped their feet and Ami stepped up. She looked me up and down with a harsh glare and turned to Neji with a sickly sweet smile. "Do you mind if we talk to your g-girlfriend," she stuttered on the word girlfriend and I couldn't help but smirk, "_alone_?" He raised an eyebrow. "I don't like the sound of it, however it's known to me that if my girlfriend," he positively smirked in Ami's face at the word, "were to get into a fight with five girls all in perfect health and with her heart so weak, she'd win because she's just that strong and talented." He smirked and I smirked as well. He kissed my cheek quickly and removed his arm from around my shoulders before he turned and walked away into the school.

I crossed my arms and glared at Ami. "What is it that you want?" She licked her lips slyly and stared after Neji, want and lust in her eyes. "I want your boyfriend, and you're going to give him to me whether you want to or not." I raised an eyebrow. "And why would I do that? There's plenty of other boys like Sai, Zaku, even that other guy, Haru." She fixed her bangs off to the side like if they were side-swept and answered with her lips pursed and a mean stare. "I don't want them. They don't have the looks or talent that Neji has." She licked her lips again as if implying something, as if she'd _done_ something with Neji.

I rolled my eyes. "There are a ton of boys that I'm sure you like so quit picking on my boyfriend just because I'm with him." She threw me a dirty look. "Look, the point is Neji is mine, he was never yours to start with and just because he's caught up in your world at the moment doesn't mean he'll stay like that. I'm sure he'll see the true bitch that you are." I smirked. "Thanks." She raised an eyebrow.

Her faced turned into one of confusion. "For what?" My smirked widened. "For calling me a bitch. In both terms." She glared at me. "In what terms?"

I laughed cruelly. "Both of them. The one definition where you're the worst person in the world to the people that cannot stand you because you're truthful, honest, and yourself. And the other definition where you're a female dog because dogs bark, bark is tree, tree is nature, and nature is beautiful. So thanks, again, for the compliment." Noticing how I'd flipped the table she quickly grabbed at her hair and then smirked, as if she'd thought of something.

"You will hand him to me and if not…run me the fair one." I smirked. "Again? Don't you ever get tired of losing?" She let out a huff and came up to me, her face nearly pressed straight to mine. "Don't get on your high horse because I can tell you right now that this will be your downfall." I raised a brow. "I'd kill to see you try."

She smiled sickeningly sweet. "And I'd kill to see you dead." I rolled my eyes. "If that's the best you can come up with then you have neither the mental capacity nor advanced vocabulary to form a rebuttal against my metaphor." She gave me a puzzled look. "Huh?" I let out a chuckle. "Exactly."

I turned around and walked up the first two stairs, leaving her enraged behind me before she called me again.

"Well, are you going to run me the fair one or not?" I snapped back around. "Alright, fine. Just be prepared for disappointment, regardless of a second, third, or fourth round." She glared at me and I smiled falsely. "What time and what place?" She mulled it over. "Today, after school. And if not, then tomorrow, same time. Don't start feeling all high and mighty."

She gave me a smirk, but not just any smirk. No. It was a smirk filled with malice, as if she'd had the whole thing planned to go this way, as if she had something up her sleeve.

And she turned, hand on her hip, and walked away toward the other side of the school where Sai and Zaku and their gangs were most likely waiting for her.

I simply glared at their direction, turned, and walked up the steps and into the school building.

----

She smirked as she reached the back of the school and licked her lips. Sai and Zaku raised an eyebrow as the group of girls came to their usual meeting spot. "Well?" She laughed. "She's going for it."

Sai and Zaku smirked. "Good, and before the fight you announce the conditions right?" She nodded, cleared her throat, and recited them. "The winner gets Neji and the loser gets their ego smashed to pieces. So she'll be an unconfident bitch and you'll be the one there to comfort her and get her to like you. Then I'm left with Neji and he starts to like me."

Karin cut her short for a second. "Wait a minute, but…I'm sorry, this is kind of rude, don't you think?" She pushed up her glasses a little more. "We already know that she's stronger than you Ami, truth be told and you can't deny it either." Said person clicked her tongue. "And plus," Karin continued, "even if you do get her in round one, what makes you so sure she won't get you into a round two and get you then with her girls jumping in when we do too?" Ami frowned and turned to Karin, giving her a look. Karin raised one of her red eyebrows. "Don't give me that mean glare. Maybe we should just leave them alone until the attack."

Ami sniffed snootily and continued. "Well Karin, maybe if you weren't thinking about the negative and kept your eyes on the prize, then maybe you'd accomplish something for the gang." She smirked crudely and continued. "Terms of the fight include no one jumping in…"

She paused and licked her lips, a new habit she'd acquired when she'd wanted something bad. The two male gang leaders edged her on and she smacked her lips together.

She laughed evilly. "At least…" She crossed her arms, the smirk on her face widening with every passing second. "Not from their side."

----

**Sakura**

I fidgeted in my seat during lunch while Tenten calmly told everyone at the table what happened while Neji smirked proudly with every time she told us about how she got Ami good. I couldn't help but grin at those parts though. Tenten was truly one of the people that were good in a lot of things, and arguing was one of them.

She finished her story, announcing that after school today she had a fight with Ami, which made me snap out of my pride for her and switch to anger. "You scheduled a fight with how bad your heart is?" She rolled her eyes. "Sakura, it's no big deal. I can handle myself against Ami." I frowned. "But are you sure it's Ami alone?" She sighed, groaned, and nodded. "Yes. She said 'run me the fair one' so you don't have to worry about anything."

I sighed. "Just be careful, we'll be there today with you, just in case they try to pull something."

She shrugged. "I don't mind as long as you don't ruin my fight." I sighed. "We won't, unless her girls ruin it." She laughed and nodded.

I smiled at her but deep inside I couldn't help but feel doubtful that it was going to be a fair fight. When had Ami ever been fair?

And with that thought I began to panic.

Ami hadn't been fair for as long as we'd known her.

And now that Tenten had hooked up with Neji, the boy she'd wanted for years, the boy she'd _chased_ for years, what made Tenten so sure that it was going to be a fair fight. I grabbed my fork and took another bite of the small salad next to my pizza. This whole thing had me worried.

I sighed quietly to myself as Tenten turned and started talking with both Hyugas, who, after the fight, seemed to warm up a bit to each other. It was nice actually watching them converse in actual topics that weren't related to their household problems and the family war going on.

I sighed one more time, quietly again. "And is there any reason for you to be sighing so quietly?" I jumped in my seat but didn't scream. I let out a silent gasp and turned to glare at Sasuke. "Why the fuck did you do that?" I placed my hands on my hips and gave him a hard glare. He shrugged and whispered back. "You looked like you were sighing a little too much so like a nice guy I decided to see if something was wrong with you."

I frowned. "Yeah, 'cause a nice guy would actually take the time to say it like that."

He smirked. "So is there something wrong with you?" I shrugged and looked down at my hands, which were placed on my lap. "I don't really know. I guess I just feel worried because Tenten's fighting with such a bad heart against a girl who never plays fair and never keeps her word unless it's for the mal-being of the girls she disliked."

He raised an eyebrow. "Okay, and?" I brought my hand up to punch him but he put his hands up and I brought it down. "Aren't you afraid that our leader is going to have a heart attack and die or go into cardiac arrest and die or stop breathing and die?" He pretended to think about it. "Ah, I'll go on." I moved my tray to the side and banged my head against the table once. Everyone turned to look at me while I kept my forehead to the table. They were all giving those expectant stares as if waiting for me to say something and eventually I did. "Ow…that seems a lot less painful on TV." I heard Naruto, Temari, and Tenten bust out into laughter and I heard Neji and Sasuke chuckle.

I couldn't care less.

I turned back to Sasuke. "Anyway, you are pretty stupid if you think you can just go on without her. And I suppose if she dies Neji will go into depression, get all suicidal and try to kill himself and where will you be then?" He shrugged. "Home, sleeping…possibly plotting the downfall of Orochimaru with you seeing as you are the second in command of Kunai." I rolled my eyes. "And what makes you so sure that I'll be focused enough to be able to discuss the downfall of Orochimaru with the death of such a cute couple?"

He sighed. "You are so dramatic." I shrugged. "A girl can only try." He banged his head on the table too and I laughed. "Wow…you were right that does hurt a lot more in real life."

I laughed a little louder and so did everyone else at the table.

I was temporarily distracted from Tenten dying until Sasuke said. "Well then if you're depressed about Tenten being killed by Ami and her unfair girls, you'll probably go into years of work and invent a time machine and go back and stop yourself from letting them kick Tenten's ass in the first place." I frowned. "Are you complimenting me by saying that I'll be the genius that invents the world's first time machine or are you telling me I'm going to end up an emotional wreck and let my emotions guide me?" He smirked. "I'd say a little of the first but mostly the latter." I rolled my eyes and Naruto laughed.

I turned back around and saw Tenten glaring holes into Sasuke's head with the fierce, fiery glare that she was sending him. He turned to face her and just gave her an emotionless look. They stayed like that, like if some kind of staring contest was going on and they maintained eye contact, even through blinking, and that was just damn creepy. She narrowed her eyes at him and her glare intensified ten fold and Sasuke just let a deep smirk escape. They continued to look at each other dead in the face, some kind of rivalry going on. Neji just smirked at the both of them, amused by his girlfriend and his best friend's competition.

Sasuke faltered for a second and then he winced and looked away and Tenten threw her hands up in the air and let out a small 'yay' of victory. Neji chuckled and Sasuke glared at her for a quick second before she stuck out her tongue at him.

I couldn't help but laugh at them. Tenten seemed a lot more cheery now that she had a boyfriend and seeing as she was fifteen and he was her first one it was _about gosh damn time!_ Even I'd had a boyfriend when I was a couple years younger. I had a little history with Sasu-kun…not Sasuke…Sasu…and now I liked Sasuke. I was a sucker for the guys with the emo names like Stab…well it wasn't my fault that they were both sexy…and cute…and at times flirtatious, play boyish, and even sweet…

I banged my head on the table and let out a loud groan before waiting a couple seconds and then letting out an '_ow_'. I felt everyone at the table's eyes on me and I sighed and sat up straight. I picked up my tray, dumped its contents before placing the tray on top of a stack and walking out of the cafeteria. I needed some time to think and going into abandoned classroom seventy-hundred-eighty-three.

I turned down the hallway and all the way down the two conjoined hallways and then took a sharp left through the hidden, narrow, dark pathway to the classroom that I'd discovered a few days ago. I opened the door and fought back a gasp. I couldn't believe the two pools of blood and the half-dead bodies lying in them.

**Tenten**

I had a bad feeling. Sakura looked kinda confused when she left the cafeteria so I threw out my lunch and told everyone I'd go after her to see what was up. I followed after her silently into a narrow, dark, abandoned, and hidden hallway where she opened the door to the classroom.

I let out a loud "HOLY SHIT!" when I caught sight of Lee and Kiba bleeding, in Kiba's case from the arm, and in Lee's case, from the leg, and not in the easy to heal part, I'm talking about mid-thigh, close enough to the unmentionables that it could take months to heal.

Sakura turned to me with a shocked expression before she pulled me behind her and into the classroom, shutting the room behind her.

The room was dimly lit by the rays of sunlight peeking through the broken drawn down blinds on each of the windows. Some parts of the room were bathed in complete darkness. The desks were pushed up against the sides and the teacher's desk was pushed up against the blackboard with an ancient computer from the nineties as the only decoration and object on it.

Sakura knelt down next to Lee and checked the wound in his leg. He had to be attended to first, obviously, because his bullet wound was deeper and more serious. I walked over and checked Kiba over. A giant _BANG_ rang throughout the room and I turned to see Sakura clutching at leg to let out a cry of pain.

"SAKURA!" I turned toward the dark area of the room and out came Zaku, his arms bandaged up from top to bottom but not appearing to be broken at all. He looked perfectly fine. My eyes immediately narrowed at the sight of him. "You!" He smirked and sauntered over. I stood up. He was a full head taller than me still but that didn't give me a reason to be a punk. He smirked down at me now and answered. "Yes, me, the boyfriend you left stranded and on the side while you went out with another boy behind my back. You bitch!"

And in a flash I was on the floor with his fist formed red on my cheek. I glared up at him and reached for the knife strapped to my thigh, which was now almost completely showing thanks to the punch he knocked me down with. He smirked and grabbed the knife and threw it to the other side of the room. I glared at him and stood up from my spot on the floor.

I heard Sakura cry from the other side of the room. "TENTEN! AGH!" I turned to look at her. She was in deep pain, holding her leg and worrying about me couldn't be good.

I turned back to see Zaku standing up in front of me. I kicked him in the gut and smirked when he backed up a bit with his hands to his stomach in pain. I slid under him to try to trip him but he simply dodged my attack and, as soon as I was standing, grabbed me by my buns and pushed me up against the wall. He held my hands up above my head and yelled in my face, his monkey breath nearly knocking me out all on its own.

"YOU BITCH! YOU ARE MINE AND MINE ALONE! THAT DUMBASS CAN'T HAVE YOU! YOU'RE WITH ME!" I raised my eyebrows and my eyes widened in shock as he pressed his lips to mine, forcefully, not softly, the way Neji did.

He bit my lip, making me yelp, and he shoved his tongue in my mouth. I gasped tried to free my hands and tried to kick him but he laid his hand on my thighs and held them there, attempting to keep my legs down and sadly he was successful.

I could hear Sakura's screams, telling him to leave me alone. I fought back a gag as he moved his lips slowly across my face and my jaw-line, down to my neck and slowly he lifted my shirt with his free hand, which he'd removed from my legs. I tried to get a clear kick in but his arm blocked them all he pulled away and brought the shirt over my head. Oh hell no! Now my bra was out there and he was well aware according to the smirk spreading over his face.

Now it was really, truly, abositively posolutely three hundred and ten thousand times as personal as it was before.

I struggled against them but all he did was bring me down to the ground and get on top of me. He let my hair out and I hated how he ran his fingers through it. I hated how he could make me feel so degraded and weak with a simple mouth-rape-type-kiss. I tried to lift my legs to kick him but he was too heavy and too strong. He'd let go of my hands and let his trace around my body. I hated it! I hated his touch!

I screamed out and he laughed cruelly as he slowly kissed down, lower, closer to my chest. I tried to push him off but still I couldn't.

I heard the door slam open and a gunshot rang. All I felt was blood drip onto my bare upper body and then the tears I didn't even know were streaming down my face out of anger and frustration and sadness and fear…fear that I would've been raped had the people who were rushing into the room not come in.

I heard Zaku's scream of pain as he clutched at his arm and then there was another loud bang and he'd been shot in the leg.

I sat upright in the fetal position, trying to cover myself. I cried silently to myself. I felt someone's strong, warm arms wrap around me and I recognized them immediately. I curled into Neji and cried into his chest, wetting his jacket. He took it off and placed it around my shoulders, just to cover my arms because my chest was covered by his body already. He picked me up bridal style and I wrapped my arms around his neck and cried still.

I was scared of the outcome. What would've happened if he hadn't come? "Neji…" I heard Sasuke's voice of worry as the Sakura in his arms cried out in pain still.

"Who the hell is gonna heal her if she was the medic?" I heard Ino grumpily yell out "I'M A MEDIC TOO YOU KNOW! AND HINATA KNOWS THE BASICS!" I didn't take the time to roll my eyes I just kept crying.

Sakura stopped whimpering enough to talk. "I-I'm fine! R-r-really! I-I can h-handle m-m-m-myself! AGH!" I heard her whimper a bit more and her cry of pain and looked over at her. From my teary eyes all I could see was a lot of blood pooling on her leg and sadly onto Sasuke's uniform shirt.

He didn't seem to care. He was looking at her, actually showing emotion, worriedly. "You say you can handle yourself but you can barely talk. What makes you think you can move?" There was a hint of his worry in his voice and for a second I felt sorry for the girl. It was obvious he liked her but he just didn't pop the question already.

I felt more tears spill over as the scenes of what had happened a couple minutes ago flashed through my mind. And what was worse was that one of my best friends had to see it.

I felt my tears come down heavily now and heaved a shaky breath, trying to calm myself. I couldn't.

Then the scenes that _could've _happened flashed through my mind as well and I couldn't help but feel disgusted. Zaku was on top of me. He kissed me _again_. He was trying to _rape _me. And his blood was now _on _me, on my bare torso.

I wrapped my arms tighter around Neji's body and cried more into his chest, my cries ringing throughout my body but still muffled to everyone else.

I felt someone's small hand on my shoulder and recognized Hinata's voice. "Tenten? Are you…will you be okay." I wasn't the only one being affected, was I? I was nearly raped and Sakura was sitting there watching me with a bullet in her leg and blood pouring out like punch from a spilled over cup.

And the leader and second in command of Kunai had been hurt, emotionally and physically. I had bruises forming on my wrists and a few on my collarbone. And I'm pretty sure that I had another back bruise from the way he pushed me down to the floor and got on top of me like that. And hell, Sakura had been shot in the leg!

Yet we weren't the only ones affected. I realized I had to be strong for all of us, so that they couldn't feel bad, so that they wouldn't have to feel my pain. So I turned to her…

And I smiled.

"Y-Yeah…I-I-I'll be fine…" _I hope_ was all that ran through my head.

She sighed and smiled back. "Are you positive?" I nodded again, fighting to keep my smile up. I didn't want to see them in pain. I didn't want them to seem affected. I wanted the exact opposite.

I just wanted to put this behind me.

So I kept smiling, hiding it, and nodding, like I'd done my whole life after the night my parents died.

**Ino**

I sighed as I finished up Lee. It was just plain embarrassing that I had told everyone to leave the room and had to remove his pants to operate him…but…what could I do? I wasn't going to cut through his pants and let him move about the school with the hole there.

He sat up slowly and thanked me. I nodded and handed him two Tylenol from my purse and a bottle of water that I carried around in my book-bag…

I turned and began attending to Kiba. He was a lot easier to do than Lee.

I simply took off his shirt, which made the both of us blush, and spotted the bullet immediately. He must've dodged or something because it didn't go all the way through the skin and it was partially slanted.

I sighed and withdrew the cleaned and disinfected knife and slowly, carefully, cut around his wound. This was going to hurt because it was right on the muscle. He grunted out and groaned in pain. I bit my bottom lip but continued. I slowly removed the bullet from his wound like I'd learned back in Suna. I placed it on a napkin and sighed. "The worst part's over!"

He looked over at his arm and smiled. "Good, because I was hoping nothing would hurt as much or worse than that did." I laughed lightly. "Oh don't worry, the stitches you'll feel but numbly after I put in the anesthetic."

I pulled out the needle and tapped the long needle part with my nail. I heard Kiba gulp and I laughed. "Oh, don't worry, this won't hurt!"

I slowly inserted the needle into his wound and he held his breath. I pressed down on the top and watched as the anesthetic was drained into his blood stream. I sighed and pulled it out before removing the needle, the thread, and the disinfectant to wipe on afterward.

I looked him dead in the eye and decided to start conversation. "So…do you feel anything?" I pulled the first stitch through. He shook his head. "No…not really…" I nodded and sighed before continuing. "It sucks, you know. Every bad thing happens to Tenten…" He shrugged his other arm. "I kinda noticed…"

I nodded. "She hasn't had much luck in her life, from when her parents died…to now…when she was nearly raped." Kiba looked up at me and sighed. "And what I bet was worse for her…" I continued. "Was that…her friends witnessed what went on…and couldn't do anything…because they'd been shot."

He nodded and replied. "What happened to her parents?" I opened my mouth to tell him the story but Lee spoke up in his weak voice before I could. "I-Ino-san…I think that we should let," he coughed and then continued, "Tenten tell the story…" I smiled at him and nodded.

"Well still…it is pretty weird that she's been hiding everything bad that's happened to her. All her pain." I sighed and nodded. "It's just her way of dealing with it. She doesn't like to show her emotions all too much unless their happy-go-lucky and dangerous…I don't know…She doesn't want us to hurt or something like that…I don't exactly know what she means but what I do know is that sooner or later all that emotion is going to make her explode and everything's gonna spill out."

Lee sighed weakly. "Since her parents died, right?" I nodded. "She's never been the same…she was always happy, no matter what they did to her…and when they died, she went into a short period of depression…and by that I mean two days…and then she just cheered up and pretended to be happy…but the thing is that she never went back to _exactly _how she was before…she changed a little bit…but not in maturity I'm talking about personality-wise. She's one of those kids that hide their pain just to make everyone else happy. She puts everyone else's feelings in front of herself and takes them into consideration before she does something, she's always been like that which is why she's never been considered a bully, just getting even…although now she does it with the people she loves…she doesn't let them in all the way, she doesn't let them know what's wrong."

Kiba talked and I jumped, startled. I'd almost forgot that _he _was the one I was stitching up. "Not even you girls?" I sighed and shook my head. "No…not even us."

**Tenten**

I sniffled and rubbed my arms from inside Neji's jacket, which I'd zipped up as soon as I'd left the classroom. He was sitting next to me just staring at me with his arm around my waist. I shivered for a quick second. I just wanted to get my shirt, slap it on, and get out of this school already. Why was it that every time something good happened to me three bad things happened to cover it up? It was like I took one step forward and three steps back.

I sighed and Neji spoke. "Are you sure you'll be okay?" I'd rehearsed this over so many times for the time that'd I'd be asked that question, anytime in my life that the lie came naturally to me. The lie that I'd said so many times in my life. I turned to him with a smile and nodded. "I'll be fine!"

He narrowed his eyes at me and I prayed to Kami-sama that he didn't see past my lie or that if he did he wouldn't bring it up. He seemed to study me, my smile, my supposed "happiness"

And then he sighed.

**Neji**

I studied her closely. Her fake smile, her false happiness. She'd hidden her pain before and it was obvious because her pseudo-ness was almost flawless. Although the way her eyes blinked while closed, as though she were trying to blink away tears, was a big give away that she wasn't going to be fine. She wasn't going to be okay. Her eyes were watery when she opened them which just proved my theory.

I sighed.

"Quit lying to me Tenten." She blinked a few times and put a finger to her chin as if surprised. "What do you mean lying to you?" I groaned. "You're faking it. You're not going to be okay, I can tell…" She sighed and looked toward the floor. "Okay so I might not be okay but why should that matter?" I sighed. "I don't know, maybe because you should care more about yourself…"

She looked up at me serenely now, with a real smile on her face. "But how can I think of myself when I have people so much more beautiful on the inside than I am to care about? I love them so much!" Her smiled shined, gleamed, glowed. It looked like a lamp had been turned on inside her face. She wasn't faking it anymore and I couldn't help but think that she was weird.

"Well just because you care for them it doesn't mean you shouldn't let yourself go. You should care about yourself too." She shrugged with the smile still in tact. "Well…I don't really care what happens to me as long as the other girls are safe…"

I raised an eyebrow at her. Was she serious? She cared more about every other person in this hallway than herself? What the hell was up with her?

Was she insane or crazy…or both…seeing as they meant basically the same thing.

"So you're saying you would die for them? If it meant them being safe you would let yourself be killed?"

Her smile never faltered. "Nope. I'd take down as many as I could with me and let them kill me in the end, not without a fight, but if it meant that Temari, Sakura, Ino, and Hinata would be safe then I don't really care."

She'd put her life on the line for those other four girls? How close were they?

And then the memory struck me harder than lightning on a tree.

_----_

_I was back in middle school in the principal's office, sitting next to Naruto, who was pouting and sending me glares, which I returned. I was somewhat scared of what might happen, even though I was afraid to admit it._

_We'd gotten into a fight in the hallway and the principal had dropped by and broken it up and sent us to his office while he cleared the hallway._

_  
This blond haired-blue eyed idiot had to be my strongest opponent yet. He'd practically paralyzed me for a second and right when I got back up, the principal came and stopped everything._

_  
I was covered in bruises from head to toe and in a few parts some cuts. Him…he was bruised alright, but not as badly as me. And me, I felt weak and sore. Him. He looked like he was perfectly fine other than the bruising._

_He continued to glare at me and I continued to glare back._

"_Why do you try so hard to win?" I narrowed my eyes and looked at him while he answered. "I wanna prove everyone wrong! I wanna prove to them that I'm not just some idiot, that I have some potential to me!" I frowned. "Alright, but that doesn't excuse the fact the you fought me for the Uchiha!" He smirked at me and pointed an accusing finger at me. "You talked shit behind his back like a little punk so as his best friend it's my job to come to his defense and that stick up your ass meant that you wouldn't settle things with an argument so I thought why not just kick your ass!"_

_I glared at him and he glared right back. "But why would you do something to save your best friend? How can you trust anyone?"_

_He froze for a second and then let what I said register before a look of disbelief crossed his face. It was wiped off nearly as soon as it appeared and he replied calmly, his face gone from anger, dislike, and disgust to utter calm and collectedness. "I fight for him because he's my best friend. I fight for him because he's like my brother. I don't care what happens to me…"_

_His blue eyes met my cold white ones for a second, locking. "As long as my friends and the people I love are alright. I would let myself be killed if it meant saving them…"_

----

I blinked as my mind came back into focus on Tenten. She was like a year older, female version of Naruto…She'd put her life on the line to save her loved ones.

I felt that thought settle in my stomach. I smiled slightly at her, letting the side of my mouth curve upward a bit and she smiled back at me.

She was so kind it was a miracle she _had _a bad side…

And that she had a seriously large group of haterz…

**Tenten**

The door slammed open and out came Lee, leaning on Ino's shoulders, and Kiba, walking with his arm in a sling.

And out came Sakura walking on her hands.

Wait what the fuck?

I turned to Sakura. "Since when do you know how to walk on your hands?" She shrugged. "With inhuman strength, flexibility, and good balance comes great skills." She laughed and brought down her uninjured leg and stood up on it before bringing down her other leg slowly, which was now rapped in bandages. She winced when she took a step on it and then she sighed to calm herself.

She smiled at us and let out a "Victory! I stuck the ending!" I laughed at her. She laughed along and then she stopped. "Oh wait a minute! Tenten, you forgot something!"

I blinked. "Eh?" She pointed down to Neji's jacket on my otherwise pretty bare chest and I grinned sheepishly. "Oh!"

I stood up backbend style and walked into the room, behind Sakura, who was holding her pain pretty well. I searched the room with my eyes for my shirt and then I spotted it squished and wrinkled up, thrown under one of the pushed up desks.

I walked over to it and picked it up. I knew Sasuke had dragged Zaku out and into another abandoned classroom further down so I didn't have to worry about anyone seeing me take off Neji's jacket and slip on my shirt.

That is until Neji walked in. I quickly pulled it the rest of the way over my body and fixed it so that it looked straight and even and then turned to him. "Why'd you come in here?"

He shrugged. "To get my jacket and see if you were okay and _not _an emotional wreck like you were about half an hour ago." Despite the situation I had been in I laughed at him. "You're so stupid for that!" He blinked and raised an eyebrow. I laughed a little more.

"For what?" I stopped laughing. "For saying I'm an emotional wreck! Think of it this way. How would you have felt if you knew Zaku was going to rape you?" His eye twitched and he crossed his arms. "Weird…and most definitely scarred for life…but pissed not scared." I frowned and blurted the quickest person that came to mind. "What if it was Ami trying to rape you?" He twitched and stopped breathing. I immediately regretted what I said out of my own anger. "Nah…she'd end up in a hospital in a coma for the rest of her life…" I grinned evilly with that thought and I heard Neji chuckle. I blinked and turned to face him. "What?" He shrugged. "You Tenten, are something else."

I grinned at those words. "Thanks. I get that a lot! And people only call another person weird because they're unique and don't think like the rest of the world…"

He smiled at me again, actually smiled at me, and said. "Well I didn't call you weird, I said you were something else…" I frowned. "Which means weird which is the cover-up for unique." He smirked. "Yeah, sure let's go with that…" I growled lowly. "Neji! Don't make me argue with you! I memorized half the dictionary and my vocabulary is exceedingly strong and colorful and you know that."

He shrugged. "So…" And just like that we sprung into a random argument.

----

I tapped my foot in the middle of the parking lot with my arms crossed waiting for Ami and her clones. The back door opened and they walked over slowly, each of them, but Karin, with a smirk on their faces.

I raised an eyebrow. "Hurry the fuck up." She frowned and yelled back. "Fuck you bitch! I called the fair one, I get there at whatever speed I want."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not getting any younger and you're getting me more pissed off by the second so unless you want me to go hard you'll get your asses over here."

She sped up a little more and came over to me. I raised an eyebrow. "What the hell are you waiting for. I'm ready." I got into my stance and she got into hers. With a smirk I quickly sent out a fake-out punch and when she put her hand down to block it I got her in the face with a hard punch.

She took a few steps back and I launched myself at her, knocking her down. I punched her across the face a few more times and the back of her head hit the pavement. Someone hit me in the face and I rolled backward, got up, and punched Suki straight in the face before kicking her hard in the stomach. I smirked when I heard something crack.

I felt someone coming up behind me so I back-flipped over them, grabbed my knife from my thigh, and threw it at her back, hitting it dead center. Tayuya fell to the ground with a groan. I smirked and landed easily.

I ducked to dodge Shiho's useless punch and grabbed her arm and stood up. I swung her around a few times and threw her toward Ami. They fell with Shiho's head on Ami's gut and her legs dragged against the cement a little as they slid back so her knees were fucked up and bloody.

I nodded toward Karin. "And you, you're not jumping in?" She shrugged. "I don't really want to, I'd rather wait till the attack, but fine." She smirked and ran toward me, her red hair flying behind her. She removed her glasses and threw them to the side.

She ran at me full speed now and I had to admit she looked like she had more potential than Ami. I smirked. Good. I actually had a challenge.

She tried to get a punch to my head I ducked down and tripped her before jumping up, flipping three times, and barraging her in the stomach. She groaned and rolled over with her eye closed but she got up. I smirked as she came at me again with a wince. I jumped over her kicked and flipped over her head. She turned to me and it was lights out.

Ha-ha! Literally. I dropped kicked her on the head.

I stepped off her head and flipped back.

She fell to the ground with a thud and walked over to where Kunai and Akuri Kaze were standing. I clapped my hands together, pretending to be getting off dirt with a smile, and put my hands on my hips. Their eyes were wide, all of them…well except for Temari. She smirked at me and I laughed.

"What?" They all pointed to the tenth of the gang I'd defeated. "What?" They twitched, all of them…except Temari. I sighed and rolled my eyes. "What can I say other than the truth?"

They blinked and looked down at me and Neji spoke. "And what would be the truth?" I frowned. "They pissed me off."

* * *

_Lolx what can I say? They pissed me off! Lmfaoo Tenten you definitely are something else._

_Nuff said._

_Thanks to all who read and review please!_


	13. Lockdown

**Chapter Thirteen**

**Code Red…**

**Tenten**

I strolled the halls in a quiet curiosity. The girls and I had already gone our separate ways for class and I told Neji I had to use the bathroom so he had gone straight to class. I figured since mine had many routes, I'd take the longest one and cruise through practically all hallways possible without being late for sixth period.

I was curious and quiet because Ami wasn't around. She usually took the longest routes to her classes to be late on purpose. Talk about dumb, I know! But it was just the way she worked. I frowned. This didn't feel right. Something was going to happen today. I could feel it under my skin and this particular something had to do with Ami and Karin's gang…

I just knew it…

**Sakura**

I sighed and leaned back a little in my seat next to Sasuke. Today's class was going to be a breeze. The Chinese teacher said we'd be working on how to present your age. Oh this was going to be a peace of cake…

Oh yeah, did I mention I was taking Chinese? Well yeah, I'm into the whole Chinese culture even though the perfect match to that would be Tenten…even if she's pure Japanese…

Anyway…

The teacher wrote a few characters and pronunciations on the board and I leaned over my paper and wrote them down. From the corner of my eye I saw a hand shoot up into the air, which was weird because no one ever asked for anything about the lesson this early in class. I raised my head to see none other than Karin flicking her red hair over her shoulders and reaching her hand up as high as it could go.

She pushed up her glasses and sniffed snootily. The teacher turned around, catching sight of her hand. "Yes, Karin?" She smirked slowly and said, "Wo yao yo shi shon jian?" I raised an eyebrow. This was beginner Chinese. How the hell did she know how to ask to go the bathroom when we didn't learn half of those words yet? Well I knew because I studied but Karin was one who was usually fucking around after school.

Weird.

And sixth period was right after fifth period lunch which we both had. She usually used the bathroom right before she went to lunch just to check if she had gotten her period sometime before fifth period. So why the hell would she have to go to the bathroom?

Unless she had bladder problems…okay ew. I didn't need that thought in my mind.

Or maybe…she was going to the bathroom for a specific reason…

I gasped silently and as Sasuke sent me a questioning look I whipped out my AT&T Nokia N47 and typed a quick message to all the girls.

'_Did the whore in your class leave to the bathroom too?'_

I shoved my phone into the pocket of my sweater and nonchalantly copied the notes on the board. The four short vibrations that came from my phone rubbed against my ribs and I had to cough to hide my surprise. It was normal this time of year. Flu season was in session.

I retracted my phone and slid it up. All of the messages made my heart go down to my feet.

Hinata: _yes_

Ino: _yeap!_

Temari: _yuhrp!_

Tenten: _my hoe nvr even showedd upp!_

Fuck!

I quickly sent a reply to all of them.

'_Then get ready cuz they're up to something!'_

No sooner had I hit the send button and turned to tell Sasuke about it than Karin burst through the door with a shining black revolver. I froze and turned to face her. She smirked as she pointed it directly at me and Sasuke. "You two. Outside. Now!" I raised my eyebrow, automatically feeling angry disbelief with this chick. Was she calling us out? Oh hell no!

I stood up with a glare. "And why do we have to go outside?" She glared right back at me. "Because I fucking said so! Is there a problem?" I nodded. "Yeah, there is a fucking problem. You have no right to tell me what to do. You're not my mother, nor father, nor the leader of this country and most certainly not anything in this little town or school. So why the hell should I have to listen to you?"

The intercom came on, the voice behind it quivering with fear. "Students and teachers please excuse the interruption but we are announcing a code red. This is not a drill. Repeat, this is not a drill!"

The Chinese teacher's face was pale as she took another step behind her desk. "Excuse me, please go down to the administrator's office for punishment of illegal possession of a weapon on school grounds…" She faded off toward punishment but Karin heard her anyway. She cocked her head to the side, her horn-rimmed glasses sliding down her nose as she pulled out another gun from God knows where near the low collar of her shirt. Ew. She directed it at the teacher, still keeping the first one pointed at me and Sasuke.

"Bu yao sho hua!" I frowned. "Just because this is Chinese class, it doesn't mean threats have to be in Chinese." The teacher paid heed to the threat and closed her mouth. "Alright then." Karin sneered. She turned back to look at the teacher. "Shut the fuck up or half the bullets in this gun go through your fucking skull? You got that?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes. Karin turned back to me and Sasuke. "Get your asses out the fucking room _now _or you'll both face bullets from a gun."

I raised my pink eyebrow again. "Yeah, cuz you really have the heart to shoot Sasuke, your so-called 'love'." I made air quotes around love. She squinted her eyes in aggravation at me. "And what makes you so sure? I shot the last boy I liked." I crossed my arms. "You mean Sasu, back in sixth grade?" Sasuke froze next to me. Karin grinned wickedly and nodded. I rolled my eyes again.

"The only reason you shot him was because Ami tripped you and you snapped the trigger by accident. And since you were trying to balance yourself with your arms and waving the gun around it caught him. Not to mention the fact that you nearly killed your so called 'best friend' when you saw what you did and you cried like a fucking baby even though he lived!"

She glared at me. "Yeah well guess what Miss Cherry, you cried too." My breath caught in my throat for a split second as I remembered myself crying next to his bloody body while he bled it out. "Alright, but that's because I didn't like him for sex dumbass! I liked him for being him because you don't find geniuses and arrogant bastards that at times can be sweet and flirtatious and are actually cute like that all that much in a lifetime." She raised her own red eyebrow, which seemed to stick out against her mahogany eyes. "Are you fucking kidding me?" She pointed her gun at Sasuke.

"You're telling me that you don't meet a guy like Sasu every day when Sasu_ke_ is practically the same person with a different name."

I glared at her. "And what the hell makes you so sure that Sasuke is exactly like Sasu? He doesn't show any emotion like Sasu did, at least not unless it's anger. Sasu showed what he was feeling and I know what he was feeling the day I left because he told me…he _showed _me…"

Karin's raised eyebrow stayed in its position. "And what exactly was he feeling the day his 'true love' left?" She made air quotes around true love. I bit my lip, drawing a little blood in the process that I quickly swallowed with the lump in my throat. "He cried that day…"

She smirked. "Yeah, but because he knew that once you left he would be doomed to me and Ami. That fucker was scared because we threatened him. The reason he showed up late to see you right before you left was because we prohibited it. He wasn't aloud or else…" I widened my footing range. "Or else what?" She smiled sickeningly sweet as she said simply, "Or else he would die. Simple as that…" I tightened my fingers into a fist.

She smirked. "You were like his body guard. He knew you and your girls were about the only group that could put up a good fight with my gang so he pretended to like you in exchange for your protection." I narrowed my eyes, fighting tears. It wasn't true, but she was getting to me.

"You were just a game to him…" I tightened my fists, so much my knuckles turned white. Her smirk widened. "You were worthless to him…" She aimed the gun completely at me now. "And now you're gonna die just like he did, choking on your own blood from a bullet wound." She got to me, and I cracked. No I did more than cracked. I broke.

I let it all out. All of the hatred that had bubbled inside of me since I met this chick in middle school built up into my chest and I let it out as a scream. I jumped desk by desk at my fastest speed until my fist connected with her jaw.

She stepped back from the impact and rubbed her lower face with the bottom of her hand. She frowned at me. "You fucking bitch!" She shot at me and I threw myself to the floor, although the bullet clipped my lower leg and I grabbed at it in pain. Karin smirked at me and then turned her gun back to Sasuke. "Time to say bye pretty boy."

He just smirked at her cockily and I had to admit, it was one of his famous heart-stopping smirks. The one that caught the heart of any girl in a millisecond. And I had to admit it was really hard keeping my jaw from dropping and my eyes off of him to examine my newfound wound.

Sasuke spoke calmly. "Pretty boy?" Karin blushed as red as her hair as Sasuke continued. "Do I look like a girl to you?" She shook her head quickly, her eyes scanning his pant-area quickly. "No! I _really _don't think you look like a girl." Hey eyes glanced downward quickly. "It's just that, you're pretty…you know…cute and cute boys are often called pretty or sexy boys." She paused for a second as she rolled her eyes around the room thinking about what else to say.

I felt like dumbass as I realized what Sasuke was trying to do. He was trying to stall for me to get to Karin and knock her ass out.

Well duh! Why else would he be fake-flirting with her while she held up a gun to his face.

I slowly stood up, out of Karin's range of vision and quietly sauntered over to her.

She continued in a quick burst. "Well you know it's not like _I _think you're sexy or anything but a lot of girls say that you're really cute!" Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Bullshit. You don't make it any less obvious than they do. You put it all out there." She glanced down at her chest real quick before looking back up.

"Okay, so maybe I put it all out there but who says it's just significant to you? Who says I'm trying to impress you. Maybe I'm trying to get someone else's attention." I rolled my eyes to myself as I crept up onto the desk a few rows behind her.

Sasuke folded his arms. "Yeah, okay. And you walking up to me practically every morning and trying to flirt with me has nothing to do with trying to get me to like you?" She frowned. "I don't walk up to you in the mornings because Miss Pink will have a spaz attack and go all hormonal and get all possessive and shit and I'll end up kicking her ass like in the sixth grade with Sasu. Like I said, he never liked Miss Pink anyway and he died pretending to…speaking of which, where did she go?"

Her eyes shot toward the place where I'd landed after I'd been shot and I smirked from behind her. I let out a small chuckle and she turned to face me as I jumped off the desk.

"Lights out bitch!" I drop-kicked her head and she hit her forehead on the desk in front of her before letting her body slam to the floor, the guns sliding out of her hands across the floor.

I didn't care about the fact that I'd just saved everyone in the class a bloody massacre. I didn't care that Sasuke was slowly walking over to me while the class slowly let out relieved sighs and went on to talking about what just happened. I didn't care that Sasuke and I wittingly knocked Karin out.

What I cared about at the moment was what Karin said before she was knocked out.

"_Like I said, he never liked Miss Pink anyway and he died pretending to…"_

I turned around and slammed the door to the room open and walked out into the hallway. I went to the end of the set of lockers and dropped down to the floor and let my tears escape.

So Sasu really _was _dead? The rumors I'd heard were true. His friends had called me telling me he was being buried in a few days time right after I got to Suna.

And Karin was the one that had killed him, claiming he never liked me, but she liked him. That got to me. In the spur of the moment that got to me because somewhere deep inside I knew part of it was true. He was subject to mockery for being so close to me and I beat up anyone, guy or girl, who did it and he would just watch me fight with a small cocky smirk on his face. A smirk that reminded me so much of Sasuke's flirty smile.

And I was scared that if I did end up in any way with Sasuke, he would do the same…

Speaking of who he plopped down next to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I pulled my sleeves up over my hands and wiped under my eyes. I didn't want him to see me cry, especially not over some boy I liked deeply back in middle school. I didn't want to be rude or make him feel bad if he _did _like me.

I took in a shaky breath and pulled up my knees to my chest. He pulled me closer to him and I burst. I cried more into his chest although his next move seemed like something Neji would pull with Tenten. He kissed the top of my head and laid his cheek against my hair, whispering to me that it would be okay.

And being in his arms like nothing for that quick moment in time made me think that it really would be fine…

**Hinata**

I glanced down at my slid up phone, and frowned.

I reached down to hit the reply button when the door slammed open and in came Hanara. Her black side braid led down to her hips, shining while her fringe bangs covered her gray speckled blue eyes. She found me and Naruto and shone a silver AK at both of us.

My breath caught in my throat as I stared at it. She smirked and licked her lips Ami style. I frowned as she stepped up to our desks. "Hey girl, you and Naru-kun," she leaned over his desk and stared straight at him, making sure her cleavage showed enough. "Come out into the hallway." She turned her head to me. I raised my eyebrow.

I stayed seated. "No thank you. I'd rather stay here and actually get through the lesson without any interruptions because unlike you and your posse I have plans for my future that don't include dropping out of high school by sixteen due to pregnancy without knowing who the father is." I turned to pick up my pen and finish copying the board nonchalantly, ignoring Hanara's stunned face.

The intercom came on briefly, the woman making the announcement sounding terrified. "Students and teachers please excuse the interruption but we are announcing a code red. This is not a drill. Repeat, this is not a drill!"

She slammed her hands down on my desk before I could finish the sentence I was writing. "Listen you little four foot eight bitch! I said out into the hallway, _now!_" I raised my eyebrow again and turned to my side. I placed both my feet on Naruto's desk and simply said. "No thanks. I'd really like to get this down to ace my test on Friday so if you don't mind." She glared at me as I looked around her and finished the sentence I was writing.

I looked up at her anger filled eyes. "What?" She pressed her nose to mine. "I don't know why you're trying to act tough, because I know that you're the shy scared type but you better get your ass into that hallway!"

I rolled my eyes and kept copying the notes on the blackboard.

A pain shot up my head and I let out a scream that bubbled through my throat and practically ripped my lungs into fourths. "Listen! I said get your ass out into the hallway! If you're smart you'll do it _before _I rip all of your hair out and shoot you." I pulled back my head against the force of her grip on my hair and looked her straight in the eye. It was about time I got to put this old trick that Ino taught me to use.

I searched her eyes slowly, looking deeply for any emotions. She stared straight back into my eyes, soullessly. "Wh-why are you looking into my eyes like that?" She tried to snap her gaze away but it didn't work. She was already trapped in the mind paralysis. Her eyes widened for a second and they showed fear and I caught a glimpse of some old fear hidden in her past and grabbed a hold of it with my mind.

I didn't need to be an exorcist to do what I did. I ripped the memory from her mind and put it into mine. I watched it play in my head and I felt a cruel smirk creep up my face for a second and I turned back to her. "Your father never loved you, did he?" Her eyes widened and her emotions changed from anger and fear to fear and sadness. I felt a quick tinge of pride. I'd gotten her even deeper into the mental paralysis.

"Wh-what are you talking about? He loved me very much!" I didn't break contact with her eyes, even though I felt a deep urge to roll my own. "Not according to your memories. He abused you, mentally and physically."

Her eyes widened even more and her grip on my hair tightened as she pulled me closer to her, trying to threaten me. "Listen you bitch-!" She was practically shouting and I was basically speaking just above a whisper but my voice overpowered hers easily. "He even went as far as killing the person you loved the most." Her eyes narrowed into angry slits although they showed her fear of what I knew. "Don't say it!" Her voice quivered for a split second and I caught it.

"He killed your mother."

She glared at me. "Yeah, so? That was a long ass time ago! It's not like there's anything of her left in my heart. Whatever was there has long since been gone."

I kept speaking anyway. "He shot her and knowing she was alive shot her three more times in the head and suffocated her." She tried to shake her head, tried to break eye contact but the paralysis was too strong for her to detach. "No!" I smirked slowly, unlike myself, and I knew that it was the side-effect of the trick at work.

"And after she was dead there was no one to assure you that you weren't a mistake of drugs and alcohol. You slowly began to believe him." Her eyes widened for a split second. "No! Stop! Shut up!" Her eyes brimmed with tears. I kept going. "He hit you and abused you and told you lies to enjoy the hurt and pain it brought you. It was all a game to him…and it was a game he loved to play."

She narrowed her eyes to prevent the tears from slipping out. "And you knew full well that if you hadn't turned the gun on him that one night that he would've raped you like he did to your mother nine months before you were born and killed you the same way she died."

And just like that Hanara broke down. The connection was broken by her temporarily broken soul and she fell to the ground unconscious, but crying. She was reliving the past and until she woke up hours later that was all she would see. The terrible past she had.

I snapped out of my reverie of watching her facial expressions and sensing her emotions when a pair of arms wrapped around me in an excited hug. "Hinata-chan that's was amazing! You knocked her out without even touching her!" I smiled and turned to hug Naruto back. I buried my face into his chest and let out a sigh. "You're just amazing for that Hinata!" I smiled up into his eyes and said in a low voice, "Thanks Naruto-kun."

'_I may be amazing for my tricks but you are amazing for being you…' _The thought ran through my mind and I couldn't help but think about how true it was as the class sighed in relief and as Naruto held me in his arms in a tight embrace.

**Ino**

I glanced down at the text Sakura had sent.

'_Then get ready cuz they're up to something!' _

I never got a chance to reply because just then Tayuya slammed the door to the classroom open with a gray pistol.

Her hazel eyes scanned the room quickly and landed on me and Kiba. Her gun pointed at the small space between us. If she shot at us while we were like that, she would kill two birds with one stone or clip us both at least.

She didn't fire however, she smirked at us. "Hey! Dumb blond and dog-boy, get your asses out into the hall! We got some business to discuss…"

I shook my head. If I had to fight her while she had a gun, I wasn't going to do it in the hallway because our classroom right now was near the office and anything could be heard from the office once it was in a twenty meter radius so fighting outside the classroom would be risky.

I glared at her. "I'm not a dumb blond. We can actually be geniuses dumbass! And I'm not going out there for you to try and shoot me. Really, _'we have some business to discuss'_ while pulling out a gun doesn't sound like there's going to be much talking to me." She glared right back at me and sauntered over to my desk. I raised my blond eyebrow as she looked down at me from her standing position.

Somewhere from down the hall a gunshot rang and the intercom came on. "Students and teachers please excuse the interruption but we are announcing a code red. This is not a drill. Repeat, this is not a drill!"

She gave me a cocky smirk. "You _will _come out in to the hallway." I rolled my eyes. "And how will you get me to do that? Did you not just hear me?" She smiled sickeningly sweet. It was so fake it disgusted me. "Yes, _darling _I heard you." Her voice dripped in venomous sarcasm. "But if you didn't hear the sound of me making my gun click, or if you heard it but don't know what it is, that means I took it off safety and from here on out it's free shots at anyone who pisses me off." She pretended to say it carefree but it just angered me.

I stood up quickly, slamming my hands on the desk. "Alright you fucking phony ass two-faced bitch! You wanna fight? You're getting one! A fair one bitch! No guns!"

She smirked and clicked the safety back on before tucking it comfortably in the holster on her stomach. I smirked and punched her easily across the face.

She wiped her lip and smiled that weird too-sweet smile at me and then she turned and tripped me. I fell back on my ass and looked up at her through the bangs that covered my right eye for a split second. I wrapped my own legs around her ankle and pushed it with great force into her other ankle and she tumbled to the floor.

I climbed on top of her and punched her anywhere there was face and I punched her long and hard. She was trying to not let out her screams of pain but it wasn't working. She was letting a lot escape.

She finally found the one spot that was weak enough to get me off of her.

She picked up her flexible legs and kicked me once in the gut, sending me backward and she got on top of me, trying to get me the way I got her. I didn't let her. She got me once in the face but I wrapped my legs around her waist and rolled backward. I retracted my legs right before they hit the floor and jumped up. Right before she could get up I screamed my art.

"Exorcist Art: Mind Destruction Jutsu!"

A loud gasp and intake of air was heard and then a scream before I was pulled into her mind. I quickly and frantically searched her memories. The term 'hard-headed' applied well to Tayuya because even with my level of training it was difficult staying in her mind. She was screaming mentally for me to get out and her soul's willpower was incredibly strong, but that wasn't going to stop me.

I smirked as I found her most feared memories, all thrown into one corner of her mind. She'd been trying to hide them. Well she's done for because nothing in the spiritual and mental body can hide from me with this technique.

I laughed to myself as I one by one threw them out to the main stream of her mind and smirked to myself when I felt her emotions run through.

Fear, sorrow, frightened anger.

I threw out another and her emotions strengthened. She was getting a little closer to breaking point.

One by one I threw her old memories out at her and each time her emotions grew stronger with them.

As the last one went by I felt her emotions grow so strong she was weakened and I watched this one as well and my breath caught in my throat at what I saw.

I shut my eyes immediately. I really didn't want to see that. I really didn't want to see Tayuya being raped by all those men. I mean I didn't like her, and by that I mean I _really really _didn't like her but that didn't mean she deserved to be raped. No girl should be put up for a one night stand she didn't even want to partake in. Hell no girl should be put up in a one night stand point blank.

And a one night stand where your innocence was stolen by a bunch of strangers in an alley in one night cannot be described because that isn't so much rape as it is a torture method. It's a torture method that I hope never happens to me or anyone I love because I'd have to exert my torture methods at full force and that would mean I killed another person with my mind…

Tayuya's screams snapped me out of my thoughts. "Stop! Leave me alone! CUT IT OUT! STOP! NO! STOP!" I felt her knees weaken from my point so I quickly shouted out to my body, "Release!"

I blinked my eyes open and saw hands holding me up by the underarms. I looked up to see Kiba looking right back down at me, a grin on his face. I raised my eyebrow. "What?" Another scream made me snap my head to look at her.

Tears were pouring out her eyes. And her eyes themselves were overcome by her dark pupils, as if she was imagining being in darkness. And the extremity of the horror, abuse, and exposure and disgust she felt with her body shone through her eyes. The horrid memory was flashing like an HD motion picture through her mind and I knew because the vividness of that memory was crazy.

And somewhere deep inside myself I actually felt pity for her for that one small thing because not even she deserved something like that.

With one final loud scream of "NO!" she dropped to the floor unconscious, tears pouring out of her eyes like waterfalls. The classroom erupted into chatter and I plopped back down in my seat, ignoring their stares and gossip about me and what had just happened. I just couldn't wait till the final bell now to tell the girls what I discovered about Tayuya. People can be hard bitches but once you get to the root of the problem it's possible they can become good once more. All of us believe that. And I know they'll probably think I'm insane for saying what I'm thinking but it really would work…

I felt a familiar arm wrap around me and I smiled up at Kiba. "That was amazing! How the hell did you do that?" I rolled my eyes playfully. "Did you forget about my mind techniques?" He mouthed an oh. "Duh!" I laughed lightheartedly as I hugged him back.

**Temari**

I slid up my phone lazily and read the message Sakura sent before shrugging and shoving my phone back into my inner sweater pocket. I popped my gum quietly and nearly choked on it when innocent-looking Shiho walked in, holding out a black AK.

I grabbed my fan immediately. She shot at me and I put the fan out in front of me and Shikamaru to prevent it from hitting either on of us. It rebounded off and flew into the whiteboard. I sighed to myself and brought my fan down to see Shiho pushing up her swirly glasses.

"You two, get your asses out into the hallway." My jaw dropped as the words left her mouth. Shiho was the last person I suspected to have anything to do with Karin and Ami. That's what caught me off guard. She smirked and licked her teeth. She flicked her blond ponytail over her shoulder and narrowed her blue eyes peeking through the thick prescription of those big glasses.

She raised her eyebrow. "What the hell are you waiting for? Get your ass out into the hallway!" I rolled my own teal eyes at her. No way was I appealing to her because she wanted me to.

The speakers came on for a minute. "Students and teachers please excuse the interruption but we are announcing a code red. This is not a drill. Repeat, this is not a drill!" Fuck. Her gun must've been heard from the office which meant the teachers were going to go into full blown panic and practically get the lazy police to arrest anyone who had anything to do with the crime. Knowing Karin and Ami they were probably going to throw the innocent girls in jail, and no I didn't mean us. I mean she's going to take the newest members of her gang and throw them to the police. It was the way they worked which was what I found out a little time after I moved here.

I stood up and opened my fan to the first moon. I smirked as she blinked at me and pointed to it with the gun. "What the hell is that for? You really think that fan is going to be strong and thick enough to deflect my bullets?"

She shot at me and quick as lightning I put the fan in front of me. The bullet didn't even make a dent in my fan. I peeked over the side. Shiho's face showed completely astonishment.

She pointed at me. "H-How the hell did you do that? What's in the middle of that? It's impossible! That's paper!" I laughed. "Wow, you're really stupid aren't you?" She blinked and raised her eyebrow in confusion. "No I'm not dumb! But how the hell did your fan deflect a fucking _nine millimeter bullet _going at least _two hundred miles per hour._" I rolled my eyes. "It's simple really. See my fan is big enough to redirect air patterns and wind movements. So even the slightest movement changes the way oxygen and nitrogen move as one. A bullet going two hundred miles per hour is not nearly fast enough to be able to resist the strength of the air thus the bullet is sent backward in any direction and is thereby known as deflected and defective against me." I smirked cockily as she got all of that and then she let out a scream.

"Alright but let's see how well you do when you have two bullets going at you at once!" She pulled out another gun and shot both at practically the same time. I back-bended and dodged them easily and as soon as they were close enough I whipped my fan around and sent the bullets right back. I flipped up and opened my fan to the second moon.

"Two moons are here, get ready for your personal hell!" I smirked as I swung the fan and sent her flying into the whiteboard back first with the strength of the wind. I smirked as she coughed up some blood and slid down onto the floor, groaning in pain. She winced as she opened one of her eyes. "You fucking bitch! You're gonna pay for that. She pulled out her gun and tried to shoot at me. I deflected it easily and smirked.

She got up slowly and she ran at me now, fist in one hand and the first gun in the other. Her second gun she'd thrown behind her near the blackboard.

I dodged her punch and kicked her gun out of her hand. Before she had the chance to do anything else I opened my fan to the third moon and swung it around, getting her up into the air in a twister that was cutting her skin up. Blood was flying although the cuts were all that deep. I smirked. "Time to go night night bitch!" The twister ceased quickly and I laid my fan out to the side, closed. She fell on it back first and coughed out even more blood. "There we go. Lights out." I threw her across the room with the fan and pulled it back to my side with a smirk.

The class's pale faces were slowly returning to their normal color. I smoothed my skirt and sat down with my fan at my side.

"Girls. You're so weird." I turned to look at Shikamaru with an angry face. "Yeah, we're weird but that's just a cover-up for saying we're unique. And you know damn well the girls and I are as weird as they come." I winked a bit with that and he rolled his eyes. "You're all so conceited too." I leaned over onto his desk for a quick second. "Yeah, and that's why you know why I'm damn irresistible!" His blush showed I hit a nerve with him and when he didn't retort I knew I had gotten him.

Then he finally came up with an answer. "Okay. You may be irresistible but we are twice as much so much in fact that you know that the only reason you argue with me is to hear my voice, isn't it?" I rolled my eyes. "Don't flatter yourself so much." I turned, letting the blush creep up onto my cheeks slowly. Next to me, he laughed and the sound was adorable, not that I would let him know that. "Yeah, okay, you don't like my voice alright."

I rolled my eyes, letting a small grin creep up with my blush.

**Tenten**

I blinked down at the text. No shit Sherlock of course they're up to something! As if I didn't know that when Ami didn't walk through the door at all. She would walk through those doors even if she was late just to see Neji because other than homeroom and gym, there was really no other classes she had with him…even though I had practically all of them with him, including fifth period lunch.

I turned to Neji and opened my mouth to speak. "Neji the girls and I think Ami and K-…" The door slammed open and stopped me mid-sentence. Ami stood in the doorway with her guns held up high. I blinked and just stared at her. She smirked at me and winked at Neji, which pissed me off immediately.

"You both, outside, _now!_" I continued staring at her blankly. She frowned and then glared at me. "I said both of you out in the hallway, _now _mother fuckers!"

I blinked as I stared at her still. Really. I felt it building up inside of me as I did. It was too overpowering, the urge. I couldn't stop it. It was just too much. I did the most awkward thing any fifteen year old girl would do in a situation like this.

I laughed my fat ass off.

And boy did Ami get pissed off with that.

"What the hell is so funny?" I breathed in deeply, trying to control my laughter but I couldn't. I kept on laughing in her face. I tried to calm myself down enough to answer but I couldn't, it was just too hard! So I let my head fall on my desk and banged against it with my fist in laughter. I felt Neji's eyes staring at me.

And I bet I knew what he was thinking.

Is she high?

I threw my head back now, wrapped my arms around my stomach and brought up my knees to my chest on the chair and kept laughing. I was weird, I know, but I found it funny!

I breathed in deeply and continued laughing. My stomach was burning from the insanity of my ruptured breathing.

"What the hell is so fucking funny?" I kept laughing. Her voice had no affect other than humor on me. She wasn't making it any better.

I heard Neji's voice. "Tenten are you-?" I shook my head. "No I'm not high or pregnant!" I said it between gasps for air and then I kept on laughing. He spoke after only a couple seconds. "Well of course you're not pregnant, you're still a virgin."

OMGEEZY! How the hell did he know that…more so why the hell did he sound so amused when he said it? Was Neji a perv?

With that thought I stopped laughing and I turned to look at him. I twitched for a split second and then looked over at Ami and started laughing again. The intercom came on but I couldn't hear shit because of my laughter.

She sighed impatiently and screamed out. "YOU FUCKING LITTLE ASS VIRGIN BITCH SHUT THE FUCK UP BEFORE I GET SAI TO STEAL YOUR SHIT! OW!"

I stared down at her with my arms crossed. Was she threatening to get Sai to rape me? What the hell? That's exactly why she'd been on the floor with a bruise on her cheek less than a second after she'd finished the sentence. Hell no! She wasn't fucking around with me like that.

I pulled the knife from the strap under my skirt on my thigh and held it in my hand sickeningly tight. She stared up at me with wide eyes. I raised my eyebrow. "What? You've never seen me pissed off before?" She narrowed her eyes at me as I brought up my knife and aimed it at her neck. "You wouldn't!" I glared at her. "The hell I would bitch, try me!"

I brought my hand back to throw it straight through her jugular. A hand grabbing my wrist and an arm around my waist stopped me. And it's familiar. I turned to look at Neji staring intently at my face. "As much as I'd like to see her dead I'm not letting you go through with it." Ami smirked up triumphantly at me. "Ah, you know you want me alive and well because you know what I can offer up to you." She winked up at him seductively and I threatened to break Neji's hold on me. He tightened his grip.

"As I was saying. You can't kill her. There's too many witnesses and even a teacher." I blinked up at him and I let a short laugh run through my lips for a quick second. "You're fucking funny!" I twist out of his grip and slam my foot into Ami's side before I throw myself down on top of her in a sitting position and run my fist into her jaw. She glares at me with the sickest signs of hatred as she puts her gun to my forehead. "Make another fucking move and you're dead."

I froze. Fuck. She got me. My eyes widened as the small beads of perspiration ran down my face. I was trapped and Neji was too gentleman-like to hit a girl. I narrowed my eyes at her in pure anger. "You wouldn't fucking dare."

She smirked up at me. "The hell I would, try me!" She quoted me exactly. I glared at her and she rolled the gun's top wheel back with a soft _click_ing sound. Shit. The safety was off. I glared at her hard and then I sighed. "Fine. Go ahead. You win…" Her eyes widened for half a second and then they narrowed in amusement and mirth. "Okay then, if you say so."

I crawled off of her slowly and closed my eyes against the cold metal of the gun. About two things I was positively sure of. One I was probably going to die with a bullet in my brain but I wasn't going to go without a fight. Two the girls would show up and smack Ami around like a punching bag.

And with that thought I smiled to myself. And slowly that smile turned to a smirk as I lightly touched the even colder metal of the blade behind me. I slid it downward quietly as Ami sat up, the gun still to my head. I felt the gun being pressed into my forehead a little harder and I could practically see Neji's hatred shining through my closed eyes burning holes in Ami's skull.

I slipped the knife into my hand quickly, agilely, and quietly and then, in the blink of an eye there was a searing pain along the side of my cheek and the gun was out of Ami's hand and was replaced with a knife going through her palm. It didn't go all the way through but just deep enough to draw some blood from her white meat. I smirked and rolled backward up onto my feet before turning and kicking her in forehead, knocking her out immediately.

I sighed as I retracted the knife from the unconscious Ami's palm and stared at it distastefully. "Dammit…that was my favorite one…" I turned to Neji. "Do you know how long it's going to take me to disinfect this shit?" He didn't laugh or chuckle or smirk. He was staring at me with a panicked expression. "What?"

As a matter of fact it wasn't just him, it was the entire class that was staring at me. More so my cheek to be exact.

I brought my hand up to it and gasped loudly as the warm blood soaked my fingers. I stared down at it with wide eyes and then I dropped to the floor. My blood had traces of purple in it. It was light and there wasn't very much but it scared the shit out of me because I knew exactly what it was.

_Poison._

And it was deadly. I began feeling the effects quickly. My vision blurred slowly and I got up, feeling dizzy and nauseous and ran out of the room only enough to collapse halfway down the hall and bleed.

I heard footsteps behind me and then I felt his arms around me, carrying me bridal style to Sakura's classroom.

I blacked out for what seemed like a couple seconds but as soon as I came around I realized we were already at Sakura's classroom. She was staring up at us from under to arms of Sasuke in the middle of the empty hallway. Neji didn't even bother teasing them about it.

"Sakura, we have a problem!" She stood up, took one look at me, and turned whiter than a ghost. She turned Neji around and pushed him quickly. "Let's go! I'll call the others to meet us at home and at the car but right now we have to get her home so I can help heal her! This is critical. Judging by the thickness of this poison and the weakness of her heart she only has half an hour maybe forty five minutes if I can get some extracted and get her immune system up to its strongest although I can't make any promises. This is a really hard thing to do!" Sasuke was right behind her, already making some calls on his cell phone.

I blinked up at Neji and he stared down at me as he ran. His face showed deep panic and concern. I reached up and touched his face, letting my knife drop onto my gut. I caressed his cheek softly. "Hey, don't worry Neji…I'll pull through…I always have…" I smiled at him although the action made my cheek hurt and made me feel like I had a terrible case of lockjaw. I brought my hand down to his shirt and grabbed at it, resting my head against it. "I love you Neji…"

He didn't reply although I did feel something drip down onto my face.

That was what made me realize that maybe I _wouldn't _pull through…

Because that was the first time I'd ever seen Neji cry…

* * *

_Kay so here's the deal. I lost my flash drive that had all of my fanfics on it and I'm fucking pissed off about it cuz All is Fair in Love and War and Photography were up there too and it pisses me off cuz now if I don't find that drive I'll have to wait till Christmas before I can save the entire story on a file all over again. On the up side I found a way to update a pretty good chapter! lolx_

_My main reason for updating is this story is so addictive to write! And twice as addicting to read! Either way...I just dropped the cliffy chicken along with a side of angst fries muah ha ha! Bad analogy neh? -_-' Yeah, yeah, am I right? Anyway time for Suspense Questions!:_

_Will Tenten pull through or die?_

Will the girls go ballistic if she does?

Will Neji go suicidal if she dies?

and most importantly...

Will Sakura be able to extract the poison in time?

_Thanks to all who read and review please! :]_


	14. Epidemic

**Chapter Fourteen**

**Epidemic**

_Scream!  
Till you feel it!  
__Scream!  
__Till you believe it!  
Scream!  
And when it hurts you  
__Scream it out loud! – Scream; Tokio Hotel _

**Sakura  
**"Hurry the hell up! She's not breathing right! That poison's settling a lot faster than I thought! Lay her down!" Neji placed her down quickly and carefully on the bed and just stared at me as I threw on my gloves and pulled out my tools and disinfectants and bandages and set to work.

I felt him just standing there and staring at me while I worked over her. It was weird really. I'd never done an extraction from an actual person, or at least not a poison extraction but I knew how. I'd have to make a cure quickly so that if not all of the poison was extracted the cure would be able to wipe it out entirely and loosen it up.

I slowly cut Tenten's wound a bit more and the blood poured out, thin and red, and most definitely not healthy. There were traces of purple in it, and as more blood came out, it became thicker. Shit. This wasn't good!

I frowned and searched around her face for a visible vain and when I didn't find one I went down to her arm and stuck the needle in there. I needed a sample of her blood to figure out the type of poison this was, what affect it had, what it was made of, and how to put a stop to it before it killed her.

And I only had fifteen minutes to do it.

I bit my lip in anxiety as the blood slowly filled up the tube I held in my hand. Once it was full I quickly pulled out the needle, disinfected the cut with alcohol and sealed it with a bandage. I hurried over to my desk and grabbed my microscope, carefully pulling it over to the bedside table next to the bed Tenten was currently resting on, which was mine.

I set it up quickly, pouring some of the blood onto the glass, covering it with another glass particle, and carefully placing it under the microscope. I blinked and shut my left eye as I examined the blood.

I was scared shitless at what I saw.

The poison was breaking her blood down on a cellular level and judging by how thick it was it was spreading quickly but there was one beam of light in this dark situation. It didn't fully destroy the cells. It broke them in half, like sickle cell only this could be regenerated. It would still be difficult to do and to think up of a cure that could eliminate the poison and regenerate the cells was something like rocket science mixed with trying to find a cure for a terrible combination of cancer and AIDS.

And now I had ten minutes to do it.

I pulled out my chemicals and set to work. I just hoped I could make it in time.

**Neji  
**I watched intently through blurry, teary eyes as Sakura went through her business, going from bustling mom to intensive ER care doctor in a heartbeat. She was sifting through different chemicals and testing them on different blood samples.

While she worked she called out to me. "Neji, can you do me a favor? I need you to run downstairs and get me some more alcohol." I frowned. "Why in the hell are you thinking about booze at a time like this?"

She turned and glared at me. "Neji! Stop playing with me boy! I'm talking about rubbing alcohol!" I mouthed an 'oh' and ran down the stairs two at a time to the downstairs bathroom and searched the cabinets quickly. Where else would they keep it, seriously? I pulled out the alcohol and darted back up the stairs.

She heard me come in and turned to me with a slightly worried expression. "Umm…would you go insane if she died for a few minutes?"

I blinked, letting that sink in and I gave her the biggest 'Are-you-fucking-kidding-me' look. "How the hell is she going to die for a few minutes and suddenly come back to life?" She frowned. "Look the process of the poison spreading is slowed when the body is in a coma-like state or at least the break-down of the cells is ceased seeing as they are close to immobile and thereby practically undetectable by the virus in the poison. It's hard because the poison is made of complex single-cell organisms that are similar to the cells of AIDS and Cancer because they're radioactive and weaken any cell it touches yet at the same time from what I've seen there are no permanent affects of the poison so if I extract it she won't end up with either disease."

I blinked and raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What?" She rolled her eyes. "I just need her to go into a coma for a moment okay? It can help her…" I closed my eyes and nodded, pressing my cold hand to my forehead, handing her the alcohol. She grabbed it quickly and continued working. I felt a little panic in the pit of my stomach as she attached a breathing device and a few IV needles to keep her going. Shit she looked like she was on life support.

Okay, that's nice.

I get a girl and she's all I've ever wanted. She's pretty, smart, can put up a hell of a fight, cocky, and sweet all at once, and damn fucking adorable! And then she's put on basic life support because if not she dies of bullet poisoning…what the hell is wrong with me? Shit the world is out to get me isn't it?

I sit up on Sakura's work desk and watch as she calmly puts Tenten into her coma and continues working on finding the cure.

The time passes. A couple minutes slowly turn into a few minutes. A few minutes slowly turn to fifteen minutes. And pretty soon it's been half an hour and I'm doubting Tenten's survival at this point.

Sakura was shaking in pure fear and panic as she sifted through her chemicals, trying combinations now on the poison filled blood. I frowned as she sighed and placed the two chemicals back to the side and scribbled down in her notebook, to make sure she didn't repeat herself and waste time.

This was taking so long. I doubted she would find a cure. From the looks of it, Tenten was having a hard time breathing and there was no doubt in my mind that if that breathing machine wasn't on her she would've died a long ass time ago.

And then the images of that flashed through my mind. She was lying in her coffin, her hands over her heart and a kunai placed under it. Her hair was wavy and left out to frame her face and her bangs were splayed across her forehead, sticking out against her pale, cold skin.

He brown eyes that usually sparkled and shined and flashed happiness and content were closed, no longer able to open. The small cut was still fresh against her cheek. The body was dead, no longer useful. It wasn't able to heal itself anymore.

The cut from the needle on her arm showed the efforts that Sakura had so desperately tried to use to save her life had been in vain.

There she lay dead in front of me, dead from something that should have never happened, and yet she couldn't have looked more peaceful. I kept thinking that she was going to wake up any moment, but she never did. They lowered her casket into the ground and piled the dirt on top of her, and that was the last I saw of her before my tears and the rain slipped down my face and the resting place was completely covered by mud.

"Hell yeah baby!" I snapped out of my terrible daydreams and wiped my wet eyes to see Sakura jumping up and down with a grin on her face. Forgetting the daydreams completely I asked, "You found a cure?"

She turned and nodded, her face bright with happiness.

A cough emitted from Tenten's mouth and her face turned pale. Sakura turned to her and her face fell back to its original seriousness. She turned back to work on the bedside table, quickly pulling the complex order of chemicals together. She took a look at Tenten. "No, no, no!" She turned back and poured another mixture and stirred it.

She bit her lip as she took another look at Tenten's paling face. Her eyes slowly fluttered open and she stared up at the ceiling, coughing like crazy. She looked weak and the shine in her eyes was dimming and I realized what was happening.

She really was dying.

The poison was a lot stronger than Sakura had thought. But it was okay, she found the cure and Tenten would be alright, right?

Wrong.

Sakura easily poured the mixture of chemicals into the needle and turned to Tenten. "Tenten, stay with me! C'mon please!" She wiped Tenten's cheek and arm with alcohol and then wiped the upper part of her arm. "C'mon Tenten! Don't!"

Tenten's smile never faltered as she turned her head and looked at me and Sakura, even as her eyes closed and her breathing ceased as she slowly went back into her lifeless sleep, only this time, I was certain she wasn't going to wake up.

**Tenten**

It hurt immensely to keep my eyes open and even more so turning my head to look at Sakura and Neji. I smiled at them both.

I wasn't going down without a fight, yes, but sadly this was a fight that even _I _knew I could _not _win. I was fighting against the poison, against the urge to give in, against the urge to let myself drop dead. But it was too much and my body's immune system and spirit couldn't take the fight nor the pain it brought with it.

I smiled at them both, feeling the tears prick in my eyes. So this is what it was like to feel death creeping up slowly. Now I knew what my parents felt.

My parents.

I didn't feel like their daughter at all. They didn't treat me like one. They never seemed to like me, hell, they seemed to hate me. And yet I couldn't help but love them with half my heart. It hurt, thinking about the night of their death. But it overjoyed me to think that pretty soon my spirit would return to them, to be with them, for the rest of eternity, and when Neji died, when his time came, we could be together up in Heaven.

I smiled at the thought as well and coughed one more time, wheezed for air as a final second-hand reaction by the body and closed my eyes, feeling a weird coolness and deep sleep come over me.

And then I heard it.

_"Tenten."_

His voice.

_"Tenten!"_

His sweet voice was slowly pulling me back.

_"Tenten! Wake up!"_

It didn't sound stoic and heartless and emotionless anymore. I felt the emotion. I felt the pain seeping through in loads, like a lake of sorrow.

It was weird hearing his voice crack like that. It hurt me deep inside that if I left, which I probably would, it would take _years_ to hear that voice again.

I frowned to myself as his voice grew.

_"Tenten! Wake up!"_

There was a slight pinching feeling in my right arm and then a few seconds later it was gone, yet it felt like there was something there, in the place of that.

It was crawling around my arm, creeping around there, numbing my arm for a split second then revealing the huge heavy hurting numb feeling that was there. You know, like when you need stitches and they numb your cut up but the pain never _really _goes away.

Like that and it brought a scream to my mouth.

And slowly it spread around my body. Numbing up and un-numbing everywhere it went, letting the heavy pain seep through my blood into my nervous system, which slowly awakened from its dull, sleepy state.

It wasn't long before the liquid like substance had spread throughout my body and moved on from the top half and went down the lower half. I felt my top half slowly ease up and I realized one thing and one thing only;

_Sakura was a fucking genius._

The nerve endings in the bottom of my body painfully awakened, which made me scream out in pain. It hurt terribly. It felt like my skin was being peeled off from the inner layers, letting the bruising and intense blood pressure turn to acid and burn through my top layer of skin.

And the second before it seemed to disappear, it popped back up in my cheek and I lost my senses and screamed the loudest I've ever done.

It felt like someone was incinerating my skin! I shot forward, my eyelids popping open to see the worried silver eyes right in front of me.

And then his arms wrapped around me, pulling me to him, and I couldn't help but feel better, feel safer. I felt such strength being in his arms even when my body was so weak.

And when I slowly brought up my heavy and sore arms to hug him back I realized another thing;

'_It's not my time to die yet…'_

I smiled into his shoulder and let the tears escape onto his shirt. "I love you Neji…" I mouthed into his shirt. And then I giggled wholeheartedly and pulled back from his tight embrace and punched him weakly in the arm. "I told you I'd pull through!" He just smiled, truly _smiled _and pulled me to him again.

I smiled and slowly drifted off into a comfortable sleep.

**Sakura  
**I smiled fondly at the couple in front of me. It was so cute! Tenten would always find ways to cheer people up, even people like Neji, who'd been crying since she stopped breathing.

Neji Hyuga, crying his fucking eyes out!

I shouldn't talk though. I wiped my eyes and slowly and quietly walked out of the room and down the stairs, wiping my eyes with the small smile on my face.

Tenten and Neji were going to last beyond life, I could tell. That thought made me smile softly as I continued wiping the tears from my eyes. And then I heard crying.

I blinked and looked up at the girls crying their eyes out and the guys trying to comfort them, with grim faces on themselves. I hopped down the last few steps and plopped on the couch in front of them.

"What's going on?"

They turned to look at me.

"T-Tenten…she's…dead…"

I blinked as I stared at them and then I laughed. That was funny.

"What's so fucking funny? You're laughing at Tenten being dead?"

I rolled my eyes. "You're all dummies for crying!"

They all glared at me. "Look who's talking. You're crying too!" Ino had been doing all the talking, up until now when she Temari, and even Hinata yelled at me. I shook my head. "I'm crying cuz I'm happy."

They looked confused. "Tenten's not dead you hoes, she's alive, so you can climb off your boyfriends now!" I smirked at them as they let that sink in and shock crossed their faces. The boys stared blankly at me.

Let's count down, shall we.

Three.

Two.

One.

_Ding!_

And all hell broke loose.

Hinata carefully scooted to the other side of the loveseat a little further from Naruto, who'd had his arm wrapped around her shoulder. She blushed deep red and wiped her eyes. Temari and Ino were a different story. Temari practically pushed Shikamaru off the sofa and Ino jumped off of Kiba's lap in a heartbeat. Sasuke was sitting next to me on the sofa, looking amused.

Ino and Temari turned on me first.

"WHAT THE HELL SAKURA! YOU HAD US ALL SAD THINKING SHE WAS DEAD AND THESE BOYS WERE GETTING A KICK OUT OF OUR MISORY BECAUSE THEY GOT TO 'MAKE US FEEL BETTER'!" Temari made air quotes. Ino continued. "ALL WHILE YOU WERE HAVING A BIG OLD LAUGH AT US BECAUSE WE WERE CRYING LIKE IDIOTS!"

I winced at the volume of their voices and sighed, annoyed. "Will you two shut up! Tenten's taking a nap! She needs her recovery sleep and Neji's enjoying his time with her so DON'T RUIN IT!"

They winced at my voice volume as well and then glared at me, settling for just sticking their tongues out at me.

"Put those away before I cut them off!"

Ino closed her mouth quickly but Temari kept her tongue out. I frowned. "Temari…" She stared at me and I stared right back and soon the connection couldn't be broken.

It was a full blown staring contest…that I was sadly losing.

I narrowed my eyes at her as she narrowed her eyes back and the weird competitive _friendly _viciousness reminded me surprisingly of Karin. Yes her eyes showed dislike and viciousness but behind it there was a kind of confusion and I could tell easily by the way she refused to shoot Sasuke. She always second guessed herself.

Then what she had said ran through my mind.

"_Like I said, he never liked Miss Pink anyway and he died pretending to…"_

I stopped staring at Temari and blinked and turned my head to the side. She screamed out a "hell yeah!" while I just stared out the window, letting that sentence sink in one more time.

Tenten might be alive but now Sasu was dead. And when his friends had tried to talk to me, to tell me, I didn't believe them. I remembered it so vividly…

_I dropped my last box into the room and clapped my hands together happily. Now came the hard part, unpacking all of it. I sighed and wiped the sweat off my brow. Maybe I could take a small brea-_

"_SAKURA! PHONE FOR YOU!"_

_What the fuck? How'd they get the phone up so fast?...Hinata…_

_I sighed and stumbled sloppily through the piled up boxes in my room all the way to the empty living room, where Ino was holding the phone out to me. She covered the bottom speaker and mouthed; 'It's Mikeru and Mikur'. I rolled my eyes and grabbed the phone. Why would Sasu's best friends be calling me knowing that I was already out of Konoha?_

"_Hello?"_

_There was a sad, depressed sounding voice on the other side of the line._

"_Sakura?"_

_I was frightened immediately by the serious tone as well. "Yes?"_

_The voice cracked as it sighed and then it spoke. "Sakura…I hate to say this but…Sasu's dead…"_

_I rolled my eyes and smiled to myself. "Yeah, okay Mikur! That's a lie! I know you take acting seriously but you don't have to go all dramatic on me! Put him on the phone!" He sighed and there was the slight shuffling sound of the phone being handed to someone else and then Mikeru's caring voice came over the phone. "Sakura, he's not getting on the phone. He really is dead."_

_I sighed. "Alright then, tell him to call me once he reaches Heaven, okay? I have to unpack and I'm not in the fucking mood for your acting games…" "But Sakura we're not-!"_

_Click._

_Bye bye. I hung up the phone and went back to my room to unpack._

I sighed. That probably should have been one of the worse days of my life, and to me it was the happiest because we'd gone behind the government's back and lived in a house on our own, claiming one of us was sixteen. We came back to Konoha to stop Orochimaru, and to get the Suna government off our backs because they started suspected something when they saw an eighteen year old in a high school freshmen's uniform walk into the office and give in the rent money.

I brought my knees up to my chest and laid my head on them, letting it sink in.

'_Sasu's dead. There's nothing that could have been done…no one was there to protect him at the time…'_

I closed my eyes slowly and let out a small breath. The room had been filled with the chatter of all the other gang members, how they were happy that Tenten wasn't dead.

I was about the only one moping and about a death, yes, but not Tenten's. Sasu…I had to admit Karin was right. Sasu was the exact middle school version of Sasuke. The difference was the hairstyle…that's about it. Hair and eye color and personality wise they were the same person. I guess it was just his like other-worldly twin.

Another sigh escaped my lips and that's when Sasuke got pissed. I let out a yelp as he grabbed me by the arm and dragged me through the door to the kitchen. I knew what he was doing. He was going to get me talk about Sasu.

"Sasuke! Stop! I don't wanna! Let me go! _Sasukeeeee!" _I pouted as he pulled me out into the backyard and closed the sliding screen door behind him so no one would hear us.

We walked over to the cute little cherry tree in the middle of the small backyard and sat under it, me with my arms crossed and a pout on my lips. He smirked over at me. "Stop pouting or else your lips will have a reason to grow to that size."

I gasped and covered my mouth with my hands, blushing red.

He turned back to serious again. "Sakura…look…this…Sasu guy…it's obvious that you really liked him…so…you can…uh…tell me what's bugging you." I turned to look at him. He was glaring holes into the ground, with a pink tint across the bridge of his nose. I smiled slightly although it was gone with the thoughts of Sasu.

I sighed. "You don't have to do this." He turned to me. His face showed no emotion but his eyes showed a lot of care. "I want to." He said it automatically, trying to be apathetic, but there was something behind it. I sighed and pulled my knees up to my chest again.

"Fine…Sasu was…practically my everything in middle school. He was like my teacher…and my student…he was like my best friend…" I rested my head on my knees and muttered into my sleeve. "And he was my boyfriend." It came out muffled and softly but Sasuke heard me anyway. "Say what now?"

I frowned and murmured it again. "He was my boyfriend." He frowned. "Sakura, you're gonna have to speak louder than that…"

I lost all my patience and I let it out a little louder than need be. "He was my boyfriend!" Sasuke's face paled and he looked shocked and slightly disappointed. I covered my mouth with my hands and blushed a deep pink. "S-sorry! I didn't mean it to come out like that! I-it's just…I…um…you know…I…I don't…um…I-!"

I broke down. I didn't know what to say and I didn't know how Sasuke felt and I felt terrible for making it come out like that. So I broke down and threw my head into my arms and cried.

I sobbed into my arms, happy that they were muffled by my clothes because I was sure that if I were crying out loud, it would echo around the block.

"Fuck! Don't cry! D-don't cry!" I brought my hands up to my eyes and breathed shakily, trying to control myself but it led to another sob. I bumped my head against my knees and wrapped my arms around them. I felt Sasuke wrap his arm around my shoulders and pull me toward him. I leaned on his shoulder and continued crying with my hands over my eyes, my sobs calming a little. Maybe that's why I let Sasuke talk to me the way he did. Maybe that's the reason I flirted with him so much.

It was because he reminded me of Sasu. And yet, in a way, he felt like a completely different person. I could easily see all of Sasu and what he was feeling. Sasuke was a little harder. Sure he acted like Sasu but there was a part of him…that I couldn't quite get to. It was like he kept it hidden from me; from everybody because he was scared someone would get to it.

I breathed shakily into the shoulder of his shirt and tried to calm myself down. Sasuke pulled me a little closer to him and I bit my lip. I scooted a little closer to him and took another shaky breath, trying to calm myself.

He removed his arm from around me and instead used his hand to ruffle my hair. I blinked and looked up at him and crossed my arms. "Do I look like a dog to you?" He smirked. "It depends, you do remind me of a poodle." I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, well if I'm the poodle, you're the yorkie!" He raised his eyebrow. "Why the yorkie?"

A giggle escaped my throat and I smiled. "Because yorkies are cute!" His smirk widened. "So you _do _think I'm cute, don't you?" I smirked back. "Yes, as in the way that you think I'm sexy." His smirk fell of and confusion crossed his face. I sighed and explained. "Poodles are considered the cute and sexy dogs right? The ones that all the other dogs fall in love with and blah! So there you go, you said you think I'm like a poodle, don't you?" He frowned and then smirked. "Wait, yorkies are wild, are you implying that I'm wild?" I nodded. His smirk widened. "Alright then, want me to show you how wild I can b-?" I felt my eyes widen and I shook my hands in front of him. "No! I really don't want to!"

He smirked. "Yeah okay." He leaned forward slightly. "S-Sasuke! No! I said I don't -!" I went into bliss as his lips touched mine. They just brushed against mine softly at first but then he pressed them a little harder against my own. It was joy. I smiled softly against his lips. Yeah, I _really _didn't want to know how _wild _he could be. I blushed a little as I pondered that, our lips still connected. He smirked and pushed me against the tree. I gasped in surprise and his tongue plunged into my mouth.

I gasped as he searched around my mouth. He picked me up and pushed me up against the tree. Luckily for us we were behind the tree, not in front. My legs had found their way around his waist as he kissed me, holding me up with his hands under my thighs.

And then, realizing what was _really _going on, I pushed back from him and gasped for air. He stared up at me, holding me up still, amusement showing in his eyes. I frowned and blushed a deep red. "Yeah, you didn't want to know alright." I frowned and pouted. "Well I didn't till you did that!"

He smirked at me and then slowly he turned serious, his eyes and expression holding his emotion. "And I'd do it a thousand times if it means making you smile." I blushed a deep pink and blinked and suddenly I was mesmerized by him.

I slowly took in every contour of his face. His cute onyx eyes framed by long eyelashes. His straight perfect-looking nose. His strong jaw-line. His hair came into view. I was under complete hypnosis. Thunder rolled and it didn't matter. My eyes were locked with his. The rain slowly came down and unbelievably so did my lips toward his as he leaned toward mine.

And we were kissing in the rain.

And it was Heaven. I fisted my hand in his hair, wrapped my legs around his waist as he held me up. I smiled into it. This kiss held so much passion from both ends that it was simply _amazing! _And nothing could stop this. This moment was ours' and ours' alone. No one was going to end it. No one was going to cut it short.

I felt the rain drip down my face and whatever of my arms and legs were bared by the uniform. It made my hair clump together as it got wet and it made it go wavy at some parts and I knew my lips were going to be swollen and red but frankly I didn't care. This moment was pure bliss and no one was allowed in the scene except for me and Sasuke.

And that was all that mattered…

**Hinata  
**Ignorance is bliss as the saying goes. I smiled as I watched Sasuke and Sakura from under my umbrella. They thought they were well hidden behind the tree but I could get a clear view of them from where I was standing, six feet from the house. I fisted my sleeve into my right hand as a means of keeping it warm. They made a truly beautiful couple, like Neji and Tenten. Sasuke never showed his emotions through expression but Sakura could read him like a book.

"Hinata, what are you staring a-!" I jumped in shock and turned to look next to me to see Naruto standing there, staring, mouth agape as he took in Sasuke and Sakura before us. I tapped him on the shoulder and put my finger to my lips, signaling him to be quiet.

He nodded and obliged. Then he whispered over to me. "I just came to see if you'd gotten them already but you've been out here a while, so I decided to come and see if you were okay." I smiled at him now. He leaned down next to me and said, "I'll keep quiet but if teme thinks he'll be able to beat me in an argument now, I'm blowing their spot!" I giggled quietly and then turned and walked into the house with Naruto right behind me.

I closed the umbrella once I stepped on the matt in the kitchen and shook it off before tightening the tie around it and connecting the Velcro. I placed it neatly to the side and wiped my foot before turning to watch Naruto struggling with his umbrella.

"This damn umbrella! It won't close! Hinata-chan, I think it's broken!" I giggled softly as I gently took the umbrella from his hands and pressed down on the button and closed it. He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly and laughed a little. "I knew that! I was just making sure you knew!" I laughed a little myself as I finished sealing it off and placed it neatly next to the other umbrella.

Naruto wiped his feet quickly and stepped off the matt into the actual kitchen itself. I smiled and followed after him. I walked over to the door and paused for a minute to look at the clock hung over the chestnut table and sighed. It was five-thirty already, which means that even without the rain and clouds, it would have been dark regardless and that the temperature had already begun dropping, which meant that if Sasuke and Sakura didn't get their butts inside they'd both catch a cold.

I turned back around, my bangs flying around with the light air that brushed by my face and I walked into the living room. I stopped at the doorway to see everyone in the room, which was just Kiba, Lee, Shikamaru, Ino, and Temari staring at me. I blushed lightly with all the attention. Ino giggled and Temari smirked. "Well? What about Sasuke and Sakura?" I smiled, remembering the scene. "Well, they said that they'd be in soon. Sakura was touching around the cherry tree to see how old it was."

I twisted it a bit. It was more like she was touching _Sasuke _to see how he was _feeling_ or rather _what _he was _trying _to feel. I fought back a shudder as I thought about that and calmly walked toward the couch where I had originally been seated and leaned back a bit.

Naruto walked in and sat down next to me, looking normal. He put on a good show. I smiled as I glanced over at the TV. They'd flipped the channel to music videos. Namie Amuro's latest video was on. I watched without much interest. It was a good song but the video was pretty boring. It was an excuse to listen to good music though.

A few minutes later Sasuke and Sakura dripped into the room. I smiled serenely at them, trying not to let too much show through. Sakura didn't seem to notice anything because she walked into the living room, her hair soaked and he clothes drenched. Sasuke was in no better condition.

I took notice in the bruising of both of their lips and the way Sakura's hair was a little too ruffled in the back and fought back a giggle, letting it out as a cough. Sakura's expression turned worried and she turned to look at me. "Hinata are you okay? Are you sick?" I shook my head, blushing a little. "Are you sure, you look a little red?" I shrugged. "I feel fine, I just choked for a second." She nodded but eyed me suspiciously before turning back to look at everyone in the room.

They all stared at her and then Ino turned smug. "Hey Sakura, why are your lips so swollen?" She blushed and Sasuke's expression hardened, as if he was trying to hide his embarrassment. Naruto hid his smugness well although it did peek through in his eyes. He was happy to know something. I myself felt like a knew a whole lot more than the others. Sakura was a good actress.

"I tripped and hit my lip on the tree." Ino nodded, her face still smug. "Okay. Sasuke why are _your _lips bruised?" He raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?" Ino laughed. "Your lips are red, big, swollen, and there's a part that looks kinda purple. Why are _your _lips bruised?" Sasuke shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about. My lips aren't bruised you must be seeing things. Why don't you go get your vision checked? You have no pupils after all."

Oh he was good…a tad cruel but he was _really _good.

Sakura burst out laughing, as well as Temari and Naruto. Shikamaru let a lazy smirk cross his face. "Hey Ino, he got you good." She frowned and turned the tables. "Well your pupil takes up practically all your eye. Do you see everything in zoomed vision or something?" I fought a giggle as Sakura, Naruto, and Temari rolled in laughter.

"Actually no but thanks to my 'large pupils' as you call them, which are really normal-sized as far as I know, can help me read people's emotions. It's obvious you're flustered and need to think of something quick to get yourself out of this predicament and save yourself the embarrassment."

Ino rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, and then her look turned smug again. "You changed the topic. You two were making out in the backyard, weren't you?!" Sakura hid her blush with a rather angry looking face. "Why in the hell would I make out with Sasuke? Really! I can do a lot better." I sensed the apology she sent him through her eyes fly through the air and it was like wildfire. He shrugged. "That's okay, anything is better than you are."

Sakura snapped her head around to face him, murderous intent in her eyes. "Are you implying that Karin, Ami, and all those hoes are better then I am?" He shrugged. "No, I'm simply saying that if you are saying that you can do better than me you're mistaken because it's really the other way around."

There was a playful glare from Sakura and she huffed and turned around.

Ino laughed. "Please Sakura, I know you're good at acting but even _I _know what you two were doing in the backyard." Sakura rolled her eyes. "We weren't doing anything. I was-…" I cut her off before she said a completely different excuse than I did. "You were inspecting the three to guess it's age, weren't you?" Catching on she nodded almost immediately. Sasuke caught on and nodded. I smiled and her eyes sent me a message.

'_You're a freaking life saver! Thank you!'_

She smiled back and then turned to Ino with a smug grin. "So there!" Ino rolled her ice-blue eyes and crossed her arms before turning her attention back to the new video playing across the screen.

I smiled a little to myself. I knew that Sakura was going to question me about how I knew and I would tell her how without hesitation. I would add some advice to give her a little push. She and Sasuke wouldn't deny it if they had started going out. They were too bold.

And that's what I was trying to do. From this point out I would try single-handedly to set up Sasuke and Sakura.

**Tenten  
**I woke up slowly and peacefully, letting my eyes just flutter open. I yawned into my hand and turned over in my bed to find Neji right there next to me.

I blinked as it all came rushing back to me. Then I smiled. The burning pain in my cheek told me that my memories were correct. I'd been clipped by a poisonous bullet and Sakura had cured me.

I inched a bit closer to Neji and he stirred but didn't wake up. I laid by head near the crook of his neck and breathed in. He smelled of pine and cologne…not a bad combination it was actually really good. I sighed softly and contentedly and then I hopped out of bed and walked to the bathroom.

I turned on the shower and walked to the closet in the hall to get a towel while the water warmed up. I walked back into my room and pulled out some clothes to put on and then walked back to the bathroom to shower.

I slipped out of my clothes and stepped into the deep relaxation of the shower. I smiled as the water ran down my bare body. I felt my body heat slowly go up.

I absentmindedly poured some shampoo on my hand and rubbed and scrubbed it around my head.

My thoughts drifted to me and Neji. From day one there'd been some kind of connection. He couldn't believe that the leader of Kunai was a leader. He thought Kunai was a male group from the way it easily took out the enemy.

Yeah well Kunai was and is a strong gang but the leader always ends up in some bad near-death experiences. Let me tell you right now, not something I want to go through again although consequently due to my position, it will probably come a lot.

From day two I got him to kind of laugh or chuckle. That brightened up my pissed off mood with him. Although the day was ruined with Zaku.

Just thinking about that fucker made my blood boil. I glared at the wall in front of me and frowned as I rinsed my hair out and put in some conditioner. That dumbass didn't understand that no meant no!

And to think he did that in front of everyone in the cafeteria. It pissed me off. If it wasn't for the fact that his muscles were probably a lot stronger than mine, I would've kicked his ass easy as pie!

Too bad I was too humiliated to do anything. Just the thought of it brought tears to my eyes. And then there was the time he nearly raped me. That made me feel even worse. I was lucky Neji popped up and shot him or I probably wouldn't be a virgin right now, and not because of a decision I made.

I'd rather stay a virgin for the time being thank you very much!

I smiled as I reminisced the fight from the other day with Ami and Karin's girls. Boy I whooped their asses easily. Easy to say so that they don't fuck around with me. I don't play that shit.

I smirked slowly and then I rinsed my hair out and moved on to scrubbing myself. I thought about just today. We got Ami pissed off. That was funny.

Speaking of which I wonder what she did with the hole going halfway through her hand. I pondered that for a second. I knew Karin took Medical Studies classes like Sakura but I doubt she paid attention. I frowned. Maybe she was okay as a nurse…

_But Sakura's even better!  
_

I smiled as that thought ran through my mind and nodded to myself. But there was something going on with Karin and I'm sure Sakura and Hinata both noticed, they just didn't want to say anything. She seemed to be confused lately on what she was doing. She seemed to second guess her choices and Ami's as well.

Maybe Karin didn't want to be a part of it. Maybe she was dragged into it. Maybe she owed Ami something and to pay her back she joined her gang.

Maybe Karin herself wasn't as tough as she put up. Maybe, just maybe she was putting on the act to maintain her _'friends´ _as she called them.

I frowned and put a finger to my chin in thought. This was so fucking confusing! She seemed to have deep hatred for Sakura and always acted like she wanted to get rid of her and yet right before she did something, there was a shimmer in her eye, like she actually had a conscience.

And then I thought about how she was the last one to come at me during the fight, the last one I knocked out as well.

She was hesitant. That's the reason she didn't charge at me first like Ami and her girls did. I frowned. Maybe she had a sense of right and wrong but chose wrong over right specifically to make herself seem tougher. It was very well possible.

And from the looks of it, it was probably more than a possibility.

I shut off the water and opened the curtains and dried myself with the towel. It was warm in the bathroom. I use really hot water. I quickly got dressed and wrapped the towel around my head like a turban to make sure my hair dried quickly. I picked up my scatted clothes on the floor and threw them in the hamper.

I quickly brushed my teeth and exited the bathroom.

When I got back to Sakura, Ino, and Temari's room Neji was already awake but he seemed to have just woken up. "Evening sleepyhead." He scratched the back of his neck and stifled a yawn before he got up and walked over to me. I raised an eyebrow. "What?" He looked me up and down and then a confused expression crossed his face. "Wow, how long have I been asleep?" I shrugged. "Don't know maybe, three hours. I was asleep up until like half an hour ago so I went and showered and brushed my teeth."

He gave me a look that rang _obviously. _I laughed a bit. I walked over to Ino's bed and picked up the sheets and pillows a bit, to make it neater. Neji just stared at me as I worked. I didn't mind though. It gave me a sense of peace with him there.

I pretended to take dust off my hands and put my hands on my hips once the bed was remade. "There we go, now Ino won't bitch." I smiled and turned to come face to chest with Neji. He was pretty damn tall.

He was staring down at me. I blushed. He leaned down and gave me a chaste kiss before standing up straight and letting the yawn escape this time.

I laughed and walked out of the room and down the stairs, which was murder on my sore legs. Everyone stared up at me and I stared at them right back. "What?" As soon as I was down on the first floor Ino, Hinata, and Temari glomped me.

I fell back and hit my head against the wall. "Ow! Dammit can I go one day without getting a fucking injury or two thanks to other people?!" They pulled off. "Sorry!" Sakura laughed from her seat next to Sasuke on the couch.

Let me say she looked a hot mess. She looked like she had just come in from a rainy hotel room. Her hair was wet and a little disheveled in the back and he lips were a little swollen and bruised.

Sasuke's lips matched hers and his hair looked like a fucked up, tangled chicken's ass. At that thought I laughed. I was sitting next to the stairs, up against the wall, with my hands around my waist laughing. "Sasuke, restyle your hair! It looks like a dead chicken's ass!" I laughed and pretty soon Temari, Naruto, Shikamaru, Kiba, Lee, and Ino had joined in. Hinata let out a small giggle with Sakura.

I kept laughing, thinking about Sakura and Sasuke's hair, and then I froze.

And then I smirked.

"Hey Sasuke, Sakura, why are your lips swollen?" Sakura frowned and sighed. "I fell and hit my lip against the tree. Then Sasuke laughed at me…" I frowned back. "And?" She grinned. "Then I socked him in the lip." I rolled my eyes. "Yeah okay, are you sure you two weren't out there making out against the cherry tree?" She laughed nervously. "Ha! No! Pfft! Yeah right!" I smirked mischievously. "Sakura, stop lying to me."

She glared at me. "I'm not lying!" "INO!"

She smirked. "I gotcha covered! Exorcist Art: Mind Transfer Jutsu!"

Sakura let out a scream as Ino entered her body. I smirked in mirth. Sakura's face went blank and then her face grew into a cocky smirk. "Hey, Tenten! I found it! Her memories can't hide from me. This one was about forty-five minutes ago." I raised my eyebrow. "So, what'd you find?"

Ino laughed in Sakura's voice. "Well forty-five minutes ago Sakura and Sasuke were behind the cherry tree k-!" Her voice stopped short and she wheezed for air and then Sakura's personality broke through.

"INO I SWEAR TO ANYTHING IF YOU DO NOT GET OUT OF MY HEAD RIGHT NOW YOU'RE GOING TO BE SCARED FOR LIFE, BOTH INSIDE AND OUT!"

I laughed. Wow. That was funny.

Ino's personality shown through Sakura's voice screamed back.

"WHY IS IT THAT YOU MUST ALWAYS RUIN MY FUN FOREHEAD? WHY DO YOU ALWAYS KICK ME OUT?"

"BECAUSE YOU DON'T BELONG IN MY HEAD! YOU KNOW I GET PISSED EASY AND I HAVE A NERVE TO LET MY INNER COME OUT WITH EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT YOU!"

Sakura's eyes widened for a fraction of a second and then there was silence.

We waited patiently to see which one was going to end up in control and then.

"SAKURA AND SASUKE WERE-!!"

"PIG I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!"

There were screams of rage and screams of fear for a second, like an invisible battle of the spirits and then Ino screamed out.

"RELEASE!"

I laughed as her energy quickly floated back to her body. Sakura smirked. "You can see my memories but you can't say them."

Ino smiled sickeningly sweet. "Maybe not in your body I can't say them…" Sakura raised an eyebrow in perplexion and then Ino's voice broke through her moment of realization. "SAKURA AND SASUKE WERE MAKING OUT BEHIND THE CHERRY TREE!"

I laughed loudly. I knew it! As much as they would accuse me and Neji of being flirts, they were twice as bad! At least Neji and I got together! Those two horny fuckers were still stealing kisses behind everyone's back.

There was a sick sound, like skin pounding on skin really hard and when I opened my eyes again I saw Ino's legs hanging over the back of the sofa, the rest of her body slumped behind it. I winced as I looked at her face while she turned around. There was now a bruise where her cheek should've been. Hinata's face seemed frantic. "S-Sakura! I-Ino! P-please stop!"

I sighed as a means of calming myself to stop from laughing as Sakura held her fist up in the air. "THAT GOES FOR ALL WHO PISS ME OFF!" Then she stormed out of the room, blushing bright red, as we all laughed.

Damn it was good to be alive!

* * *

_Yeah weird chapter I know...kinda saddening too near the beginning and middle but that's me! I'm a jumble of bipolarosity in my writing!...well not reallyI try to be but sometimes I don't and the chapter turns out boring lmfaoo!_

The lyrics up at the top are from:

Scream - Tokio Hotel

Ahem, suspense questions time!:

What will Neji and Tenten do now that they know what Sasuke and Sakura did?

How will Sasuke cover up for this little matter?

And most importantly...

When is Hinata going to make dinner cuz I'm pretty damn sure that they're all feeling hungry right about then...

lmfaoo

R-A-N-D-O-M-N-E-S-S spells Kiki lmfaoo

_Thanks to all who read and review please! :]_


	15. Beauty

**Chapter Fifteen**

**Inner Beauty**

_No one, no one, no one  
__Is getting away with what I'm feeling  
__No one, no one, no one  
__Is getting away with what I feel for you  
__You!  
You!  
__Ain't getting away with what I feel for you! – No One; Alicia Keys_

**Hinata  
**I let out a tired moan as I felt consciousness coming over me slowly. My senses slowly came back online and I fought a yawn as my sense of touch overcame me. Something was up against my head.

It felt like…someone else's head. It was like…spiky…and…short…Sasuke? No too short. And Shikamaru was on the couch across from me, cuddling up with Temari. Kiba was sleeping with Ino's head on his chest so there was no doubt in my mind that it wasn't him either.

I frowned and then realization dawned over me. I realized who was rubbing heads with me. I sat up and looked down to see Naruto laying the same way I was.

Wait…What were the boys doing here in the first place?

Oh yeah…they stayed over.

I fought down a bubbly giggle as last night's events ran through my mind.

_Ino laughed bubbly-like as she slammed an old liquor bottle in the middle of the living room floor, miraculously not breaking it into pieces. Everyone stopped their conversations and turned to face her. "I have an idea! Since we're not going to school tomorrow and the boys are sleeping over," she pointed to the boys, who had showered and thrown on some pajamas they'd gone and picked up. " Why don't we play a game?"__**bottle**__!" I frowned and then blushed lightly. Naruto was jumping up and down like a kangaroo. "I wanna play! I wanna see Neji kiss Tenten, and then Teme kiss Sakura, that way I have blackmail!"_

Temari looked up from examining her manicure. "Truth or dare?" Ino shook her head and grinned smugly. "Nope! Spin the

Tenten frowned from Neji's lap. "How the hell is it blackmail if Neji and I go out already?"

He simply shrugged and turned to Sakura and Sasuke, who were sitting on the couch across from where Naruto and I were sitting. "Well, the bottle's gonna land on Sakura as soon as Sasuke spins it. The bottle's gonna go where ever his di-!" I cut Naruto off before he could finish saying that really disgusting 'D' word. "Umm, Naruto, how about you just calm down a little?" He laughed and then grinned at me with a nod.

_Ino rolled her eyes. "Let's go! C'mon! Truth or dare!"_

Everyone other then Tenten, Neji, and Temari sighed as we all went down to sit on the wooden floor.

_Ino grinned evilly as she looked around to see who her first victim would be. Then her eyes landed on Shikamaru. "Spin the bottle!"_

He frowned. "Why me?" Ino laughed. "Because I've known you since kindergarten!"

He raised an eyebrow. "Then why did you not recognize me the first day you came here? It took you a long ass time." Ino frowned. "Your hair was a lot shorter two years ago!" He rolled his eyes and let out an annoyed sigh and a lot of murmurs that no one heard as he leaned forward and spun the bottle once, pushing a big amount of force against it.

_It spun quickly, going in circle after circle, and still staying on its spot on the floor. Finally it started to slow and then a look of terror crossed Temari's face as it landed on her. She muttered a curse under her breath. "Cheap shot." She sighed and without hesitation, but a rather annoyed look on her face, turned to her right and kissed Shikamaru on the lips._

_We all gaped. How did she do that so willingly? …Well it was Temari, she didn't really care. Her face soon loosened up and her eyebrows sprung up in surprise and then she gasped and pretty soon she and Shikamaru were making out._

_Ino grinned as I winced with Sakura and Tenten. The rest of the boys were either watching with amusement (Sasuke and Neji), disgust (Naruto and Kiba), or joy (Lee)._

_Then Ino got tired after a while, although she still had a grin on her face. "Okay! Temari, Shikamaru, you can stop now!" They kept on kissing. "Guys!" Ino frowned as they kept on with their make-out session. "GUYS! YOU EITHER CUT THE SHIT OUT OR RENT A FUCKING ROOM!"_

_I winced at her volume and Temari and Shikamaru broke apart, very red in the face, and very out of breath, but both of them seemed a little…foggy…spaced out…until Temari blinked and turned her head and broke the quick connection they had._

_Ino put her finger to her chin. "Umm…now the next person to go will be…umm…Sakura!" Sakura raised her eyebrow. "Ino, isn't Temari supposed to spin the bottle now?" Ino nodded and said, "Yeah. But now I'm scared that she's gonna push it to the right and start another make-out session with Shika." I giggled as Temari yelled out. "Yeah, SCREW YOU INO!" Tenten laughed._

"_Anyway…Sakura, if you please." She sighed and leaned forward and spun the bottle. It didn't go all that fast so it only spun once before it landed on…Sasuke!_

She glared at the bottle and then at Ino. "Oh no way in hell could that have been chance. Ino you fucking bewitched the bottle!" Ino grinned. "Yes, no, maybe so." There was smugness in her eyes. "Go ahead! Make with the smooching!" Sakura blushed and shook her head.

_Ino frowned. "Sakura! Don't make me do a mind transfer and come out at the last second!" Sakura sighed. "But…I don't want to!" Her voice faded a bit in the end. Ino raised her eyebrow. "Sakura, you're killing the buzz here, just kiss him already! Don't come with that bull-shit that you don't want to. You know you do!" _

_Sakura shook her head. "I don't want to kiss – Sasuke no! __No, no, no, no, n-mmph!"__Okay I had to admit, them kissing was pretty cute. Sakura blushed bright red as Sasuke pressed his lips to hers and the response on both of them was automatic._

_She tangled her hands in his hair and he wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her body closer to him. They went down the Shikamaru and Temari path and soon started making out themselves. Sasuke was bold, wasn't he?_

There was a small smile gracing Sakura's lips and a smirk on Sasuke's. They were enjoying it.

Naruto was smirking and taking pictures on his phone, just like Ino, Temari, Neji, Tenten, and Kiba while Lee sulked to himself.

_Ino laughed evilly, which snapped both Sasuke and Sakura out of it. They jumped back from each other and blushed. Sakura wiped her bottom lip with her finger and then bit her lip. She looked like she'd just killed someone; guilty. I giggled at that._

"_See! I told you! You knew you wanted to!" Sakura glared at her. "Oh screw you Ino!"_

Everyone with the exception of Sasuke and Sakura stared laughing.

_That is until Ino turned on Naruto. "Spin the bottle Naruto!" His expression dropped and he suddenly looked very nervous. "Umm…pass…" Ino shook her head. "Nope! Spin the bottle!" "Pass…" He said it again and Ino grinned. "Naruto, spin the bottle or I'll throw you and some random person outside in the rain, whether it's Sasuke, Neji or Hinata!" I blushed and shook my head slowly._

_Naruto cringed at that and quickly spun the bottle. Like when Shikamaru had spun it, it spun for a really long time, quick as lightning. When it finally did slow down I'm pretty sure I put fire-trucks, tomatoes, and anything in this world the color red to shame. The bottle landed on me and my face turned different shades of radishes._

_Sasuke smirked. "Dobe gets to kiss his crush." Naruto stuck his middle finger up at Sasuke. "Just the way you got to kiss your sex toy." Sakura threatened to strangle him had it not been for Sasuke holding her back._

_Everyone in the room laughed except for me. I was too busy blushing. Naruto blushed lightly as everyone quieted down. He turned to look at me and then back at Ino. "Don't punk out…" He frowned. "I don't punk out, ever!" Sasuke smirked as Sakura calmed and sat next to him. "Yeah, okay dobe. Then why are you acting like a punk on this? You're a real pussy."_

Naruto glared at him and crossed his arms. "I'm not a fucking pussy!" "Then kiss Hinata!" Sasuke retorted easily.

_Naruto sighed and turned to me. "Sorry Hinata!"_

_I tried to blink, to process what was going on, but my eyes wouldn't open. I felt something warm and soft against my lips. I blushed lightly as I realized Naruto was kissing me._

It wasn't a crazy sex-driven kiss like Shikamaru and Temari's or not as intense as Sakura and Sasuke's but it was passionate and beautiful in its own way. I slowly leaned against him in the kiss. He scared me when he began sucking on my bottom lip, but I didn't pull away either. I felt my blush slowly spread from the bridge of my nose to my cheeks because I knew the others were there, watching, but it didn't matter to me. I was in Heaven with his lips against mine and what was better than eternal paradise?

"Awe! You know, when they do that, it's more adorable than it is disgusting!"

"Right! Awe! Ino smart idea bewitching the bottle…even though I'm going to kill you in your sleep for it."

_I slowly pulled away from Naruto and he let out a soft grunt of disappointment. I silently agreed. The kiss was over too soon, but the others were watching and I knew the things they were going to say were going to be __**very**__ embarrassing. _

_Our noses touched for a brief moment as our lips disconnected and we both let our eyes flutter open. And then two things that I could fully register through the jumbled up happy chaos in my mind were:_

_**One;**__Everyone in the room was cheering our names in a happy tone and talking about our kiss with the exception of Neji and Sasuke._

_**Two;**__ Naruto and I didn't care; we were staring into each other's eyes._

"_Naruto, don't get too fucking comfortable kissing my cousin or I'll whoop your ass!"_

Tenten retorted immediately. "Neji! It's fine, can't you see they like each other very much. We were just like that…" She added the last part in an undertone but I heard it.

_I turned my head away and blushed bright red as everything else processed in my mind. We'd kissed…in front of everyone._

_I smiled a bit at that but quickly wiped it off as everyone's attention turned back to the game. Then Ino smiled at me and said, "Since we don't have to force them through bewitched bottles and a game, Neji and Tenten, why don't you kiss?" They shared a look, shrugged, and then leaned in to kiss. _

_They didn't bother with the tap they cut straight to the make-out session. Tenten was turned to face him in his lap, kissing him with a smile on her face. Neji was kissing her back, no smile, but it was evident that he was enjoying it. Ino was laughing and Sakura was smiling at them, as was I._

_They really did make a cute couple. They accepted each other, even with their faults. They had a soul-deep connection that was evident just by the way they looked at each other. And if for any reason they got into a fight and broke up, they wouldn't last a day without the other._

_They pulled apart slowly, their foreheads together and eyes closed, both breathing heavily. Their lips were touching but they weren't kissing. Tenten pulled back and smiled through closed eyes and laid her head against his chest. I felt like I was intruding on that moment, although no one else seemed to really care. They all were smirking, grinning, and smiling._

_And then Sakura turned on Ino. "Hey, pig…Why don't you spin the bottle?" Ino blushed bright red and shook her head. "Ha! Me? No! Pshaw!" She swatted her hand around and Sakura laughed. "Everyone did it except for you so spin the fucking bottle!" Ino sighed and spun the bottle. It did half a circle and landed on Kiba. He blushed lightly and an adorable wolf smile came up to his face. "You did bewitch it didn't you?" She shrugged, nodded and then walked over to him on her knees. She leaned in and kissed him on the lips fully and he didn't hesitate to kiss back. _

_He bit into her bottom lip with his unusually long canines and she immediately allowed him entry. Pretty soon they joined the list of make-out-ers. She smirked as she pushed him back and leaned against him on her knees, her hands on the ground in front of her. He turned the tables so that he was in the position she was except his hands were a lot closer to her thighs. He smirked and kept right on tongue wrestling her._

_Ino blushed and they kept on kissing._

_It was like we weren't even here. It was weird. She kissed him like if it were nothing. Then, they both smiled and the kiss turned a little more passionate before the heat in the room started rising and he brought his hand up and grabbed at the hem of her shirt._

_Everyone in the room went pale and then Sakura broke through. "Okay! Pig, dog, that's enough! I don't need a pregnant freshman to deal with!"_

Ino laughed and pulled away from Kiba, who smirked as he pulled away. Ino blushed light pink, not from embarrassment, but from how much she was out of breath.

_I giggled a bit. Ino was even bolder than Temari. At least Shikamaru and Temari had the sense to not make any sexual movements toward each other. Ino and Kiba went wild. I wouldn't be surprised if by the time they had finished this year of high school, neither would be a virgin anymore._

_I yawned and crept up onto the sofa and laid against the arm of it as everyone began chattering about Ino and Kiba's kiss._

I blushed lightly as I relived the kiss between me and Naruto. It made my heart flutter just thinking about it. It was a nice, easy-going kiss. _'And my first…_' I smiled at that thought. Naruto was my first kiss.

I sighed and laid back down and cuddled up to him, trying to go back to sleep. A soft chuckle emitted from him and I felt it rumble in his chest. He brought his hand to my head and stroked my hair. I smiled at that and nestled my head against his chest. He didn't seem to mind. I let my arm fall around his muscular waist. He just smiled down at me. I smiled and closed my eyes, intoxicated in his scent. He smelled like soap…and the lingering scent of cologne couldn't be missed. Mainly he smelled like water, and his scent reminded me of his eyes. Those big pools of endless blue, like the ocean glimmering in the setting sun.

My smile widened and I sat up slowly. I finally let my yawn escape, however I let it escape quietly. I muffled it with my hand and turned my head to look at Naruto. He was smiling up at me. He was wide awake. I smiled back and stretched my arms out before stretching my legs and climbing over him to get to the floor.

He just watched me as I steadied myself on the floor, all the blood pumping equally through my body now, clouding my eyes with patches of gray and black for a minute as I struggled to stand up straight, and then I walked out of the living room, rubbing my eye, and quietly up the stairs and into the bathroom.

I did my business and brushed my teeth quickly, making sure that my breath smelled minty and my teeth looked white and clean and plaque free. I didn't want any mouth diseases. Great hygiene was second nature to me.

I rinsed my face out with the cold sink water and dried my face with the decorative towel on the wrack before heading right back to the stairs.

Naruto was at the top of the stairs just staring at me as I walked down. I blushed lightly and continued on down, stealing a glance at him. I silently tip-toed through the living room full of sleeping teenagers, taking a brief moment to see Sasuke cuddled up with Sakura on the couch and Neji and Tenten on the floor nestling with each other, Tenten's head in the crook of his neck. It was like a love fest behind me. I crossed the living room and closed the door to the kitchen behind me. I sighed and let a sense of relief wash over me. It was a good thing no one had woken up yet.

I walked over to the fridge and removed some eggs, some milk, and some butter. I set them on the counter and opened the cabinet and pulled out the seasoning and a bowl. I cracked twenty eggs into the giant bowl in front of me, and decided to just use the last two in the carton, seeing as we had another one. I poured in a sufficient amount of milk and added some seasoning and mixed it around with the eggs.

The door closed silently but I heard it and I turned to see Naruto standing there. He walked over to me and glanced down at what was in the plate. "You cooking scrambled eggs?" I nodded and smiled. His chin was a little wet, which told that he'd brushed his teeth. I let my eyes slowly creep up to look at his lips. Last night's memories rushed through me and I blushed and turned to look at what I was making.

"Umm…Hinata…" Why did he sound so nervous? "Hmm?" I looked at him, losing a fight against my blush as he scratched the back of his neck and looked up at me. "Umm…about…you know…what happened last night…you can…forgive me, right?" I blushed bright red, feeling embarrassed. There was a twinge of nervousness in his eyes as he said it, and then a bit of happiness at the memory. I felt the blush turn brighter and his face held deep disappointment. "If you don't, it's okay, I mean, I wouldn't expect you to with the way I just went and kissed you like that but…uh…"

Despite my embarrassment I giggled. "I don't really mind it Naruto-kun." I turned back to my cooking, and when he didn't reply I turned back to him. He was blushing light pink. I blinked a few times, wondering what was wrong and then I looked back on what I said.

'_I don't really mind it Naruto-kun.' _

I blushed bright red again and, realizing that the eggs were properly mixed in already I placed a large frying pan on the stove and placed some butter in the center, putting the stove on high and letting it melt before pouring in the egg. I went over to the fridge and got on my toes to grab the Italian bread from the top of the fridge. I sighed. I could only reach the top of the freezer door, I was too short to get to the far back. My shirt raised up at the bottom as I tried to reach higher.

A strong arm wrapped around my bare waist and another one reached up and grabbed the Italian bread. I turned around to see Naruto pulling it down and holding it out in front of me. I blushed and thanked him softly before going over and cutting the bread and placing some cheese in the middle. I set up another large pan with butter and put the eleven cheese sandwiches in the frying pan, letting them fry, then turning back to attend to the eggs, which were now drying into a big omelet that I would soon chop up.

I chopped it up quickly and turned the batch of eggs over after one side was warm and a little brown. I turned back to the sandwiches and turned them over, letting them cook to a crunchy brown as the cheese in the middle melted with the intense heat.

Naruto watched me from the table. I could feel his eyes on me.

I turned to look at him over my shoulder as I cooked. "Naruto-kun, could you please grab me two big plates from those cabinets over there?" He nodded and scurried over and brought them back over to the counter next to me. I smiled at him and clicked both sides of the stove off, placing the perfectly cooked sandwiches on one plate in a pile and the eggs on the other.

Now it was time to make the sandwiches.

I scooped up some eggs and put them into the now open sandwiches and closed them up, revealing eleven large egg sandwiches. "That should just about fill everyone up." I smiled and turned to Naruto, who was grinning at me.

"Those look really good Hinata!" I smiled. "Thank you. I try." He laughed softly to not wake the others up. I walked over to the cabinet across from me and pulled out a bunch of plates and placed them on the table before pulling some extra folding chairs from the corner and placing them around the long table to make room for eleven of us. I set the table and went around and placed a sandwich on each plate. I smiled at how neat it looked with the cute flowers that the girls and I kept in the middle of the table.

I turned around and grabbed both frying pans and placed them in the sink, so that after we ate, I could wash them. I pulled out the pancake batter and poured some into another giant bowl and mixed it in with water. Naruto walked up to me, looking confused, and I knew why. "It's just in case it doesn't fill everyone up at all…" I was mixing the batter quickly and soon it was smooth so I placed it on the counter and set up the stove, placing some butter on a different, a lot smaller, frying pan and poured in a small circle of the pancake batter.

I watched it bubble for a couple minutes and then I flipped it over, seeing the golden brown on the already cooked side. Naruto walked over and then looked down and smiled. "You're a great cook!" I blushed lightly. "Thank you…I've been cooking since I was…" I thought back on it… Then I sighed and pushed the tears back, trying to stop the burning sensation in my eyes. "Since I lived at the Hyuga manor a few years ago…" Naruto frowned. "Why'd you leave?" I hesitated for a second. Should I tell him?

I sighed. "My father was a terrible man. He always had very high standards and if anyone in the main branch of branch families didn't meet his standards, they were useless, worthless in his eyes. And I was one of those people. I never earned his respect…because I was too weak for his tastes. He said my little sister, Hanabi, had more value because she had more potential. All he cared about was fighting ability. You see, the Hyuga family usually enrolls in the military if they are good enough. That is why we are so rich. That's why we need to be amazing fighters. Sure if we aren't we are allowed to reside in the mansion but only as a maid or a cook. It's a big house.

"There was only one person that I know of that fully met my father's standards…and he left the Hyuga household a couple months after I did…" Naruto raised his eyebrows at the end of my talk. "And who was it?" I stopped making the third pancake I was on and looked straight up into his eyes, his curious, sea-blue eyes. I let my own bore deep into his and then I looked toward the ground. "Neji…" His eyes widened for a fraction of a second and then he talked. "Why did he leave if he was the only one that met the standards?" I sighed. "He didn't want to enroll in the military. My father got so angry with him, that they haven't talked since then. That's why Neji left the manor, because my father finds ways to _force _you to join the army.

"He pushed me until I was soulless. I would go to school scared out of my wits and people would tease me because I was quiet and rich and not the most intimidating looking person. That is…" I smiled lightly to myself. "Until Tenten, Sakura, Temari, and Ino all got tired of seeing me get pushed around and stepped to my defense. Boy did those kids get hurt that day. We all got suspended because they blamed all of us…but frankly I didn't mind. My father gave me an earful when I got home and I packed up some stuff into a book-bag and left to go find the girls. It turned out that Tenten was an orphan who was living on her own against the law. She'd fixed up a little shack and it looked more like home than my own house did. She let me stay a while, until Neji came along and started looking for me. I told her I had to leave, she didn't want me to, but she didn't stop me. So when I did get back home my father snapped at me. He told me just what he thought about me." I stopped there, the memories stinging at my eyes, threatening to let tears fall.

I breathed in a large gulp of air to calm myself and continued. "He said I was worthless, useless. He told me…that I was an inexcusable failure…" I paused again, fighting back the tears, but they fell and slipped down my face anyway. "And that he regretted ever having me…" My voice cracked halfway through and then I felt myself shake with a sob.

And his arms were around me. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to him. I let my tears drop, trying to control my soft sobs and thankfully it worked. I felt his warm hands slide up from my waist to my neck and he left his hands there for a second and then lifted them to rest on my jaw. He wiped my tears with his thumbs. "Don't cry…" I blinked as I looked up at him through my teary eyes. His own blue ones held understanding in them. I sighed and let my head drop to look down at the floor. He brushed my bangs back and cupped my face with his hand, then caressed my cheek.

"Hinata, don't think about the past. It's not worth the memories if they don't make you smile." I looked back up at him. His eyes were boring into mine with so much emotion, so much understanding, that it was a miracle that he wasn't crying too. I got lost in those pools of blue…those beautiful eyes of the ocean that matched what I was feeling. And then he leaned down and kissed me. And I kissed him back. I smiled through my tears and let my emotions run through my body in an electrifying manner, up to my lips where his were pressed against them. It felt like I was enlightened all of a sudden, like my spirit had floated away from my body and drifted off into Heaven.

'_Could it be…'_

We pulled apart slowly, letting our noses and foreheads touch, and I blushed. I turned my head in embarrassment but I felt him staring at me.

I let my thoughts drift back to what happened a few seconds ago. He kissed me again. I smiled and looked back up at him. We both turned our heads to the opening door to see Sakura and Sasuke walking in one after the other. Sakura rubbed her eyes, yawning and Sasuke walked in right behind her with his arms folded, looking tired. "Luckily no one saw that." They seemed oblivious to us. We stayed quiet and I stared down at the fifth pancake I had started.

Sasuke simply let out a 'hn' and kept walking. Sakura huffed in annoyance and then she froze in her spot. "Hey…um…what about Naruto and Hina? They weren't in the room when we woke up…" She blushed light pink. "Did you think they saw?"

I spoke up. "Yes, we saw." Sakura jumped up in surprise, putting a hand over her heart, her face paling as she took in both Naruto and me. "Hinata! You scared the crap o-…were you crying?" I blinked and wiped my eyes quickly. "No…I yawned and I guess it came out like that." Naruto looked over at me, his face showing a smile but the worry in his eyes, as if he were telling me to tell Sakura what had really happened.

"Well umm…what are you cooking?" I looked down at the sixth pancake now. "Pancakes and egg sandwiches…would you mind waking up the others?" Sakura nodded and turned around and walked to the door. Then she turned back around to Sasuke. "You! You're coming with me!" He raised his eyebrow. "Why?" She frowned. "Because if anyone other than Naruto and Hinata saw us when we went to sleep they're going to have smart little smug ways of teasing us and just in case I run out of insults you have to be there." He maintained his raised eyebrow.

"Why?"

"So we don't embarrass ourselves."

"Why?" A small smirk graced his features.

"So we don't look stupid."

"Why?" "So we seemed educated."

"Why?"

"Cuz we thought of something to say back."

"Why?"

"Cuz you were there…"

"Why?"

"Cuz I forced you to be there."

"Why?"

"So we could have enough comebacks."

"Why?" Sakura was getting pretty impatient.

"So we don't embarrass ourselves."

"Why?"

"Sasuke! You fucking bastard!" She pounced forward and fell on him, causing him to fall back. She was on top of him. They both blushed. Sakura got up quickly and dusted off her pajama pants before crossing her arms over her chest and turning around. Sasuke raised his eyebrow, got up and crossed his arms. He walked past her with a simple, "Nice ass" and headed toward the door. Sakura turned, looked down at her backside, and then turned bright red. "Sasuke!" He raised his eyebrow and turned around. "What?" "You perv!"

Naruto chuckled at his friend's obvious flirting and Sasuke sighed. He grabbed Sakura by the hand and pulled her behind him out the door into the living room.

I turned back around and smiled down at now the seventh pancake I was making. "They are so cute together." Naruto grinned and nodded next to me. "I haven't seen teme that playful since his family was killed."

I felt my ears perk up at that but I let myself let go of the interest. I put the seventh pancake on the plate and continued working on breakfast.

**Sakura  
**I tip-toed into the room and walked over to where Ino was lying under Kiba on the floor, his head laid on her chest and their legs intertwined. I shook her softly and she let out a tired moan and turned her head to the other side. "Ino!" She shrugged and kept sleeping. I shook her again and she made a quick move and then kept on sleeping. I yanked her ponytail and she shot up, putting all her wait on Kiba's bottom half. He woke up right after, much to Sasuke's amusement. "Kiba, make sure to use protection next time, she seemed to enjoy staying down there…" He yawned, rubbed his eye and let his knees come up after Ino got off. He then looked up at both me and Sasuke. "Heh…look who's talking Uchiha you practically had Sakura all over you."

I blushed, as did Sasuke, and then he glared at Kiba, who smirked at him in mirth. "Sasuke, why so upset? You know you like it." I rolled my eyes and turned to Ino. She rubbed her eyes cutely and walked upstairs to go brush her teeth.

I turned around to go and wake Temari and Shikamaru up.

I shook Temari and she shooed me away. "Leave me alone!" I frowned and shook her a little harder this time. "Stop it! The one time my blankets are actually warm!" I sighed. "That's not a blanket, that's Shikamaru…" Her eyes shot open and she looked over at him. She blinked once, twice, three times and then she jumped backward, her legs untwining with his and his arms falling flat on the floor before he woke up and propped himself up on his elbow tiredly.

"Is it morning already?" I nodded. He sighed. "Troublesome." I frowned as Temari got up and pulled the hem of her shorts down a little seeing as they'd ridden up. She shrugged afterward and headed up the stairs.

Shikamaru sighed and rolled over onto his back with his hands behind his head and then he dozed off again. I rolled my eyes and kicked him lightly in the side. He opened one eye tiredly. "Get up Shikamaru!" He groaned and sat up with a grunt and scratched the back of his neck. I had to admit, he looked a lot different with his hair down.

I turned around and walked over to Lee, the only one who was sleeping alone. It gave me a little sad feeling in the pit of my stomach to think that everyone in here was practically paired up. It wasn't so much that he was ugly…I mean other than the eyebrows, bowl cut, and bug eyes he was okay. I sighed and shook him lightly. He raised his eyes to look at me and smiled and got up. "Sakura-chan, is it morning?" I nodded and he jumped up and stretched. I smiled at him. He looked wide awake. "I feel so much better after resting up!"

I giggled, and noted a look in Sasuke's eyes that sent a small shiver down my spine, which I hid from everyone in the room. Lee didn't yawn once. He didn't seem like the lazy type.

He was pretty much the one that took the least amount of time to fully wake up.

I walked over to Tenten and Neji and smiled. They looked so comfortable. Their legs were intertwined and Tenten was leaned up against his chest, her face in the crook of his neck. He had his chin on the top of her head and they didn't seem like the dangerous gang leaders they were. They looked peaceful and calm, like any normal teenage couple…

Too bad Hinata told me to wake them up.

I leaned down and shook Tenten gently. She was always alert so even the slightest sound or movement would set her on full alert with a gun out. "Nng!" She moaned, turned her head for a second and then turned it back to Neji's neck. "Tenten, wake up!" I shook her a little harder but she just frowned and grabbed onto Neji's shirt. I shook her a hell of a lot harder. "Tenten, wake the hell up!"

She frowned. "I don't wanna, leave me alone!" She pouted like a five year old. Neji shifted next to her and then he opened his eyes and sat up, well tried to. Tenten was still grabbing onto his shirt and as soon as he noticed that he looked up at me with a raised eyebrow and then down at Tenten. He leaned on his elbow next to her.

I sighed and bent and shook Tenten once more. "Tenten, wake the hell up or I'll fucking…umm…kill your boyfriend…"

"Aah!" I paled and somersaulted in the air to avoid the kunai she chucked at me. So she hid them in her pajamas too? I glared at her as she got up and rubbed her eye. Neji just looked up at her from his position on his elbow. She turned to look at me, still rubbing her eye, and glared. "I wanted to keep sleeping!" I frowned and stuck my tongue out at her. She continued glaring at me. "Glare all you want, you can't kill me with that." She grinned sweetly all of a sudden…it was _too_ sweet. She lifted her shirt and pulled out a gun that was in a waist band holster and pointed it at me. "No, looks can't kill but this sure as hell can." She grinned, it was more like herself this time. I paled a shade more as she removed the safety with a gratifying _click. _She then smiled again and let out a laugh. "Really, like I would shoot you…" She looked up from under her lashes for a quick second, looking dangerous and seductive at once, which was weird because she only used it on enemies known to have a crush on her. "At least, not this early in the morning, too many people around at home, you know, have to make sure that they're working before I do. That way there's no witnesses."

I frowned and took the gun away, clicking the safety back on. The look on her face made her seem like someone had kicked her puppy. "I hate you! You're the worst most immature mommy ever!" She crossed her arms, huffed, and turned her head.

Neji raised an eyebrow. "Was there by any chance lead ink or paint in that poison?" I shrugged. "I didn't check but if there is, she's got a terrible case of lead poisoning." Neji sighed. "Fix her!" Tenten grinned at me and then stood up back-bend style. "I'm fine." She walked over to and up the stairs and to the bathroom. I frowned. That was fast…and incredibly weird.

I sighed and looked down at Neji, who was now lying on his back staring at the ceiling. "Do I have to fix you too because you seem kinda lost." He looked at me and then turned his head and stared back up at the ceiling and then rebuttaled. "Now you know how I feel whenever I look at you." I frowned and stuck my middle finger up at him. He smirked. "Not by you. Go do that to Uchiha, I'm sure he'd gladly comply." I slapped my forehead and turned on my heel and walked out into the kitchen. "Everybody's awake, including Neji and Tenten. Woop de fucking doo!" I frowned and pulled out a chair and sat down, frowning and crossing my arms over my chest. Sasuke walked in a couple seconds later and raised an eyebrow at me. "What the hell are you sulking about now?" I frowned. "I stuck my middle finger up at Neji…why does that fucker have to be so smart?" I sighed and let my arms drop to my sides, averting Sasuke's eyes as they landed on me.

I played with the hard wood of the chair and thought about Neji's accusation of what Sasuke would do. The chair next to me screeched against the floor and I looked up to see Sasuke. He raised his brow as he looked down at me. "What the hell are you so quiet about? You're usually thinking about something when you sigh." I frowned and turned my head to look out the back sliding screen door. I turned my head back to him. "Tell Neji to stop making smart comments when I stick my middle finger up at him."

Sasuke maintained his raised eyebrow. "What did he say?" I looked toward Hinata and Naruto, who were setting some pancakes onto each plate. I turned to Sasuke. "Well a middle finger means 'fuck you' so when I did that, he said, and I quote: 'Not by you. Go do that to Uchiha, I'm sure he'd gladly comply'. His smart ass…" I mumbled the last part but Sasuke heard it regardless and he turned his face to face the wall opposite him. "God, he's annoying isn't he? I have no clue what Tenten sees him." A loud 'clunk' was heard as Tenten's fist collided with Sasuke's head. He glared up at her. She scowled down at him. "Stop talking shit because frankly I have no clue what Sakura sees in you either."

I blushed and Sasuke's glare intensified tenfold. Tenten maintained eye contact the entire time as she walked over to the seat in front of him, never once blinking, and never once lightening up her frown. She just glared at him. He glared right back. I sighed. "Guys, this much animosity in the morning is not good for Hinata, she gets stressed easily, she gets nervous with dislike and tension in the room." She turned to me, giggling. "I think it's actually kind of funny, but it is true that they should stop."

Sasuke kept glaring at the side of Tenten's head as she smiled at Hinata. "Good morning Hinata…Naruto…" He nodded at her with a grin. "So…in the time that you two were awake before everyone, what did you do?" Hinata smiled. "We made breakfast." Tenten blinked and looked down at the plate in front of her, surprised. She'd just noticed it. I massaged my temples and grabbed the fork next to my plate, and the syrup in the center of the table, and poured some over my pancakes before eating them. "I'm hungry and happy that there's food so I'm not bugging you. Thanks Hinata!" She giggled cutely and nodded as a 'your welcome'.

I took a bite out of my pancake happily and looked up ahead of me. Neji was taking his seat next to where Tenten had been sitting. Had been? I frowned and someone clearing their throat behind me got my attention. I looked up, the pancake chunk still in my mouth, at Tenten. She smiled. "Don't you think it was incredibly kind for Hinata to make such a chunky breakfast to fill us up?" I frowned, suspicious, and nodded slightly. Tenten's smile held sweetness but behind her eyes there was something like amusement, and something a little darker. "It kind of reminds me of the first day of school." I nodded and swallowed and she smacked me in the back of the head so hard my face nearly crashed into my breakfast and I started choking.

I let out a couple 'hak's before clearing my throat and feeling the pancake slowly slide down. I winced and rubbed at the front of my neck, looking around the kitchen, scanning around for her. She was in a corner laughing her fat ass off. I glared at her and jumped from my seat over to her. She just watched amusedly as I took my steps toward her, my hands balling into fists. "Tenten…" I tightened my fists, making them turn white. "You fucking brat!" She smiled at me, fighting back laughter, amusement and satisfaction shining in her eyes with great intensity. "Brats means bitchy rat and rats eat cheese. Cheese is for cameras to make you smile so thank you for telling me I made you smile." She smirked at me, amusement and challenge in her eyes as I inched forward, cracking my knuckles. She raised her eyebrow. "What? Are you trying to threaten me?" I shook my head. "No I'm not trying to threaten you."

She grinned slyly. "Okay then, what are you doing, trying to break you fingers?" I shook my head. "No, I'm cracking my knuckles and if you don't shut the fuck up these are the same God damn fingers that are gonna be shoving themselves up your fat ass! And that's a mother-fucking promise too!" She maintained her sly grin. "Sakura, Sakura, Sakura. _Tsk, tsk, tsk. _It seems we may have to put you in an institute for lunatics and psycho people." I groaned and brought my fist back. They collided with her head. She fell to the floor grabbing at it and wincing as she stared up at me and then she smiled and tripped me, the pain still showing in her face.

I fell and gasped as she mounted on top of me and hit me three times in the face and then jumped off. Hinata bustled over, scared out of her mind and pulled me up, keeping me back from practically killing Tenten.

"S-Sakura-chan! N-no, don't d-do it! Tenten's only k-k-kidding!" Tenten grinned from the other side of the kitchen. "Yeah, I was kidding when I only hit her three times, the next time it'll be a hell of a lot more." "YEAH THEN COME AND SHOW ME HOW MANY TIMES YOU WON'T LAND A BLOW BECAUSE NEXT TIME IS THIS TIME!" Hinata pushed me back, having to take a few steps to keep me at bay.

And then I felt a sharp pain in the underside of my jaw. Now my face was kind of numb, and my breathing was a little raggedy and yet I couldn't have been more calm.

I dropped to the ground, holding my throat only to see Hinata gentle fist Tenten upside the jaw too. She frowned and dropped to the floor, holding her throat as well. She then looked at me and I shrugged. I tried to speak but my voice was too numb and it hurt my throat, so all I could do was watch Hinata stare at us disappointedly, with her hands on her hips. "Really, I don't know what's gotten into you two but could you at least act a little more mature? I don't want this house in ruins as a result of fighting."

There were a couple loud _**BANGS **_from outside and a couple windows shattered. Both Tenten and I jumped onto Hinata to keep her down as the bullets embedded themselves into the wall behind us. She gasped as her back hit the floor but otherwise she was fine. I looked at the wall to see not one, but four bullets planted into the plaster there. Fuck. And she said she didn't want the house in ruins as a result of fighting. There was a quick pain in my throat and my face and neck were no longer numb. Tenten rubbed her neck quickly before turning her head to look through the now partially shattered sliding glass screen door.

Tenten stood up. "Sorry Hinata, but it looks like we're gonna have to fight regardless." Tenten pulled out another gun from her holster and held it out in front of her as Ami, Shiho, Tayuya, and Hanara appeared in the doorway, all holding AKs and all pointing them at Tenten, sly grins on their faces.

* * *

_Wowzerz why do I always leave you guys with cliff-hangers? Well in response to that question; BECAUSE I FUCKING LOVE TO! lolx well no not really I wish I could make a chapter go on forever but really, who has time to read something that long? And to add more suspense to the story, I have to leave a cliff-hanger in the place of the beginning of the next chapter. So yeah, there's my reasoning and explanations._

Suspense questions time baby! :

1) What are Ami and her girls doing at Kunai's house?

2) How the hell did they find out where the girls live?

3) Why isn't Karin with them?

and for the first time in forever ;

4) Where the hell are the rest of the alliance gang members because they should've been in the kitchen that time?

5) Did they even hear the shots?

And finally:

6) Will Kiba and Ino still be virgins by the end of their freshmen year?

Hmm...So many things to ponder and only a handful of them will be answered. Check in the next time I update, which if I work fast can be sometime during the weekend or next week. I'm on a roll here so let's try to keep it going! Yeah!

Naruto (c) to Masashi Kishimoto-sama

~xXKiki-chan-2-13Xx outtiez!! 


	16. Invasion

**Chapter Sixteen**

**Invasion**

_And you can see my heart beating  
__Oh you can see it through my chest  
__Said I'm terrified  
__But I'm not leaving  
__Know that I must pass this test  
__So just pull the trigger – Rihanna; Russian Roulette _

**Tenten  
**I glared at Ami, Shiho, Tayuya, and Hanara, my gun pointed at Ami, who was standing in the middle of them all. Ami smirked and lowered her gun, signaling her girls to do the same. "Keep them down for a second." She stepped forward, into the kitchen and I narrowed my eyes at her. The glass crunched under her high Stiletto boots as she inched closer to me. I continued to glare at her, my gun held high at her. She smirked as she stepped up to me, taller then me for that moment seeing as she had heels and I was barefoot.

She pushed my gun down, clicking the safety on, and then turned my head with the same hand. She grinned in mirth at my right cheek. I felt my eyes narrow even more as she examined it. I felt everyone's eyes on me. She brought her thumb up next to the cut I had there. "Tell me, Tenten? Did it hurt?" She brought her thumb across the red slice of broken skin softly and turned to me. "Did it, at all?" I maintained my angered expression, and didn't answer.

She maintained her gun at her side. "Did it hurt? Answer me when I speak to you. Now I'll say it again. Did it hurt?" She ran her thumb against it a little harder this time. I winced and inwardly cursed myself for it. She smiled falsely and ran her thumb over it once again, even harder this time. "Oh? Does that hurt? Well gee I'm sorry. But tell me…does this hurt?"

There was a slice against my cheek and then the blood oozed down. I slapped her hand away and grabbed at where the burning was. I pushed my finger up against my cheek and winced. There was a large wound where the cut had been. Luckily for me it was just a little sweep of a knife, nothing deep or damaging. It should've left behind no scar.

She smirked at me as she brought the bloody knife up to eye level and stared at it cross-eyed. "Your blood doesn't seem like it's purple anymore. Dammit! And here I was hoping you would be dead." I raised my gun and pointed it at her, maintaining my free hand on my cheek. "I'm not dead, as you can so clearly see." She smiled fakely again and took another step closer to me. "I can see that. But why are you not dead? I figure that poison was strong enough to send you into a deep battle with the spirits for your life." I frowned and nodded and she grinned evilly. "Great. So why are you still here?"

I shrugged. "Simple. My medic's a fucking genius." She shook her head, a small smirk plastered on her face. "Well then, I guess I'll just have to kill you without poison. Maybe with something that'll make you die instantaneously." She put a finger to her chin in mock thought and after a couple seconds brought up her index finger as if she'd thought of something. "I know! How about an a gun! But not just any gun, no. A sniper!" I narrowed my eyes. "Are you implying that you have someone hiding a sniper somewhere near this house?" She smirked. "I might. The thing is, I'm not telling you who, or where, that girl is."

I rolled my eyes. "Like I give a shit. No one in here is going to get shot by one of those shits without your girl's eye going down with it. She'll have that bruise for months and I think it'll be evident who the hell attempted to get us." She shook her head. "Oh, the thing is she's not aiming for you guys." I narrowed my eyes. "What the hell are you implying now?" She grinned. "She's aiming for a certain place in your house that'll set of a certain machine. Then your house goes bye-bye. You get what I'm saying?" I frowned. "Yeah, I completely get what you're saying. You have someone planted out there aiming for someplace in my house that has some type of machine that's going to make my house end up destroyed." She licked her lips and nodded. "That's just about the gist of it."

I brought my gun a little higher, aiming it at her face. She disgusted me by licking a part of the knife. She then looked toward the window. "Hmm…your blood taste like absolute fear. You're scared of what's going to happen now, aren't you?" I raised a brow and answered. "Bitch stop trying to be Ino. She has skills you'll never be able to possess." She glared at me.

"Enough talk. I'm tired of all of this. You're going to get what you so desperately deserve!" She began to lift her gun but I shot at her before she could and I got her in the arm. She let out a scream and fell to the floor, clutching at it as the blood ran down. I turned and ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs, realizing that the kitchen was now empty except for Ami's girls and me.

Once in the living room I realized that everyone else had brought up as many weapons as they could and thrown on shoes. Kiba had Akamaru on the top of his head even, and the dog was growling menacingly. So his dog fought with him? I scurried up the stairs and threw on a pair of Uptowns, tying them quickly, before going through my drawers and pulling out a couple hundred senbon, kunai, a katana, and two more guns. I put the metallic, knife-like ones in my pouch and grabbed a gun holster for my hips and placed my two guns in there. I grabbed some bullet cartridges and my keys and bolted out of the room, back downstairs.

"Guys!" They were moving out of the house quickly and I followed after them, seeing Neji at the door, holding it for everyone with a revolver in his hand. He looked down at me, a smirk not on his face but visible through his eyes. "Amused?" He nodded. "Very. It's funny that they think they can get us here." I nodded.

I turned and walked out of the house and Neji followed after me. I locked the door to prevent thieves and jumped down the porch stairs. And then, realizing that we were going to have to split up to find this sniper-girl, I turned to Neji.

He stared down at me in befuddlement as I stood there before him. "What? Move!" I shook my head. "Neji, what if she was lying? What if that girl is aiming at one of our heads right now?" He frowned and looked down at me. "She won't get us. Snipers are just as loud as regular guns are." I sighed. "The thing is she can see us from a mile away, we can't even hear her. He sighed. "We're going to get through this. I nodded and turned around and took two more steps before turning back around and smashing my lips up onto his. He didn't hesitate to kiss back. It was chaste and quick but it held so much emotion from the both of us.

I pulled apart from him after a few seconds, breathing heavily already, and looked into his beautiful silver eyes. "I love you." The words came out easily and I felt the sincerity behind my own short statement. He nodded. "I love you too." I hugged him quickly and turned and began walking down the pathway. Everyone was waiting for us at the end on the sidewalk. "Guys come on! They're coming!"

I nodded and ran down the path to them. I stopped in the center of the group that had formed. "Alright, we're going to have to split into pairs. Neji, go with Lee. Hinata, Naruto, you two are coming with me. Sakura, you're with Sasuke. Ino, you're with Shikamaru and Temari, you're with Kiba. Any questions?" Ino raised her hand quickly and brought it down. "Just one, can we leave, because their coming around the corner!" I nodded and they broke off into their groups. I grabbed both Naruto and Hinata and pulled them behind me, taking one last look at Neji only to find him staring back at me. Our eyes connected and I felt suddenly overemotional. Hell, that was weird. I'd never cried over a boy before, so why'd I do it so much for Neji?

'_I love you.'_

'_I love you too.'_

The words sprung into my mind and I had to blink back tears. It wasn't really possible, was it? I mean, kids that have crushes on each other go out with each other but was it so easy for them to say 'I love you' not even a week into a relationship? My head spun for a quick second as we crossed the street and continued running down the sidewalk there. No! There was no way that there could ever be something like that between me and Neji. No! It was a simple crush. There might have been a little but not a lot.

I most certainly was not completely feeling love at first sight with Neji. No way in hell!

…or was I?

**  
Sakura  
**My heart pounded hard against my chest as Sasuke and I ran down the sidewalk to the left of the house and down until we got two blocks away from the house.

I felt my breath quicken as we flipped off one car, onto another, then onto the sidewalk. We landed on our feet quickly and continued running, making a sharp turn at an intersection. The street was narrower and there was a fence at the end. "Shit!" I bit my thumb as a means of calming myself. I tasted that familiar blood and metal taste and withdrew my hand, quickly wiping it on my pajama pants. It dried immediately.

I looked behind me and then looked ahead, to see how fast I was getting to the fence. And then it hit me, and I froze.

Sasuke heard my stop and stopped about a meter away from me and turned around, staring at me. "Let's go!" I put my hand up. "Wait!" He let out a grunt and soon after we went into silence. I listened intently, straining my ears. It was quiet. Too quiet. I turned around to Sasuke, smiling. "Good news, no one's following us. That means we can be the ones to find that sniper bitch and take her ass down."

He stared at me for a minute and then he grabbed my hand and kept running down the alley. "Well then what the hell are we standing around for? You do realize she can snap that shit at any minute with a simple cell phone call, right? And where will we be without a leader or a house?" I rolled my eyes. "You guys have a hideaway." He sighed. "Your clothes!" I shrugged. "Ino sews." "Sakura this is not the time!"

I blinked and stared up at him and his eyes widened as he looked behind us. He pulled me to the side and we both fell back, me on my knees, and him on his ass against a wall, his arm around my neck and my hands next to his legs. His back was up against the side of the cement building in the narrow pathway.

I watched as the bullet soared past me, catching a bit of wind, which made my free hairs blow a little. "Damn, that's a fast ass bullet!" It crashed into a car shortly after, making it threaten to flip over. Luckily it was a parallel parked car and not a car someone was driving, although I felt bad for the owner. There was a huge dent around the bullet hole, and the bullet, somewhere inside the car.

I felt Sasuke turn his head to look at me and then he stood up and pulled me up. I thanked him and dusted all the dirt off of my pants. He turned to keep running in the direction that we had been going in. I quickly grabbed his hand and turned him around. "We don't have time to linger here, we have to go!" I shook my head. "Sasuke think about it, the original shot could have been curved but the thought of the idea is that the bullet came from behind us, regardless." He frowned as he thought about that and then he smirked at me. "What?"

He kept up his cocky grin. "You're a fucking genius." I smiled. "I try." He turned back around and grabbed my hand and started running, pulling me after him. I smiled as I looked down at our joined hands. I let my fingers intertwine with his own and ran a little closer to him, catching up to him. He looked sideways, a small pink tint across the bridge of his nose. I smiled at him and turned to keep facing forward.

We took a few more quick steps and we were right in front of the gate. He looked at me. "You do know that once we go over the gate that we have a better chance at finding this girl." I nodded. "And a worse chance at survival." I nodded again. He turned his head to face the fence. I did the same and we stood there and stared at it for a couple seconds.

"Sasuke?" He turned his head to me. "Hm?" I pressed my lips to his. He kissed back full force after a few seconds. My heart pounded against my chest at it and soon we were pressed against each other with my hands grabbing his hair and his arms wrapped around my waist.

His tongue touched mine and it drove my senses wild. My heart dropped to my stomach in excitement for a second and then it came back up and threatened to pop out of my ribcage. I didn't care. I kept on kissing him.

We pulled apart slowly. My lips were still touching his as we breathed heavily, but we weren't kissing, they were tip to tip. He turned to look at the ground to his right. Then he looked straight into my eyes. He looked like he wanted to say something but he looked hesitant to say it, terrified even.

I shook my head and let go of his hair before turning and grabbing onto the fence. He let me go and I missed the warmth of his body against mine as I slowly began climbing up the tall metallic gate.

I reached the top and pushed my self up into a handstand on the horizontal pole. "Sasuke, hurry! She could be aiming at us right now!" He nodded and kept climbing up after me. I stayed like that. I frowned as I stared at something speeding down at me. "Sasuke stay down there!"

He frowned up at me in confusion and was about to talk when he noticed the bullet coming straight toward me. I pushed off the horizontal bar a little higher but I felt the burning sting of the bullet clipping my arm. I let out a hiss but caught myself on the bar. "Ow! Dammit!" I pushed myself off of the gate and landed on my feet, but in a crouch. I grabbed at my upper arm where a gash was now starting to bleed. "Fuck! That bitch is gonna pay and I'm talking life! No body but Tenten shoots me! Oh hell no! BITCH BE READY! YOU BOUTA GET THE ASS WHOOPING OF YOUR LIFE!" I reached into the side-bag I'd pulled on where I'd placed my medical supplies and removed some bandages and some rubbing alcohol. I wet them with the disinfectant and wrapped them around my wound, hissing as it began to sting.

Sasuke watched me as he finished climbing up the gate and jumping down. He landed next to me and continued watching me as I closed the alcohol and placed it back in the bag with the bandage wrap. I turned around and started running, feeling the rage bubbling inside of me as I ran down the narrow alley. Sasuke chased after me, eventually catching up.

"Sakura, slow down! Don't waste all you energy now. Save it for your fight." I didn't make any moves to answer but I did slow down a bit until I came to a complete stop. I frowned and leaned up against the wall and grabbed at my arm.

It didn't hurt, it stung, but that wasn't what had stopped me. What had stopped me was the fact that the bullet had come from two different directions. One came from the south while the other came from the south east. It wasn't a huge difference but I had a feeling that those bullets weren't any ordinary bullets. I breathed in and thought about it. This was a secluded area. It could even be considered abandoned because no one was around here, no one lived here. All of the houses that I could see from where I was standing were abandoned and broken and run down. I sighed as I thought about it.

How the hell did those bullets curve? If they were weak enough the rotting wood would be able to push it over to a certain target. I rolled my eyes. No the wood would break.

I frowned. How in the hell had the bullet still gotten to me? I put a finger next to my eye, something I did whenever I needed to think, and took another deep breath.

Those bullets weren't ordinary. They weren't poisoned, or micro-chipped, because then there would be a beeping sound with them, but other than the soft BANG that we could hear from our distance from the sniper, the bullets were silent. I frowned. Gangs could come up with crazy advanced technology. Eventually those geniuses ended up as weapons creators for the FBI in the United States, Japan, or China. I sighed.

Dammit! What the hell could they be using.

And then it hit me.

"Heat seeking bullets!" Sasuke's head snapped to me, his face showing surprise and confusion. "What do you mean?" I frowned. "I mean that the sniper is using heat-seeking bullets! And if we don't let anyone else know it could be their deaths." He raised a brow. "But how the hell are they heat-seeking if they missed us?" I shook my head. "They're heat-seeking. It's possible to dodge a heat-seeking bullet. The difference between a heat-seeking bullet and a heat-seeking missile is that bullets move way too quick to turn back around, so if they missed the target, you're safe. The thing is it can curve halfway through toward the heat if it senses it. The first time it missed because you pulled us to the ground and I went straight behind me. The second time it just barely got me because I jumped up at the last minute but the thing is, the bullet was aimed for my head. It had already curved. I jumped up to late and it caught my arm. That's the reason these bullets seem to be coming from a different direction."

He frowned in frustration. "Shit! So you're saying she could be shooting from any direction and make it seem like she's shooting from all sides." I shook my head. "No, what I'm saying is we're going the right way but thanks to the heat detection device in the bullets, they're not only silent, but they're also able to curve." He mouthed an 'oh' and pulled my hand and began running again. "Then what the hell are we waiting for? Let's go!" I nodded and kept running after him.

We turned left for a quick second, heading east, against the wind. The breeze blew my hair to the right and I knew we were on the right path. Wind usually came from the north side so we were on the right track. I caught up to Sasuke. "If you see anything don't waste time with words just drop down. The bullet won't do anything once it gets too close." He nodded and kept running.

I let a shudder run up my spine as we crossed the abandoned and cracked street and kept on running.

I looked behind me, looking at everything that we covered and my eyes widened. "Sasuke!" I pushed him down and the bullet zoomed past our heads.

I pulled him back up quickly and looked up at the top of an old brick building. It was crumbling in most places and the windows were boarded up. That wasn't what caught my gaze. It was the girl on top of it who grabbed my attention.

She smirked and licked her lips wryly. Her wild blue eyes showed her enjoyment in this. Her bright pink, Tayuya hair, colored hair flowed behind her, long and silky, down to her waist. She smirked down at me. "How weird, how ironic? Huh…Sakura?"

I felt my eyes widen. It was her.

She put on a false smile. "Remember me?" I nodded, gaping. "Sakurambo…" She grinned wickedly and clicked her gun menacingly, pulling on the safety for the moment. "Yeap, it's me Sakura, the girl you left for dead in Orochimaru's lair four years ago!" I shook my head and fell back on Sasuke, who caught me easily. He watched us intently. "B-but, you weren't breathing! I wanted to take you, to at least try! We didn't have time to. Y-You were dead when we left!" She shook her head. "You have that wrong. I was alive but in a coma. And you're supposed to be the medic. Pfft!" I frowned. "Orochimaru found me, he told me about his plans. I've been working with him and Ami and Karin's gang since then. Since you guys abandoned me and left me as worm food in Orochimaru's lair, I can safely say that my life has bettered a hell of a lot more. But I can say, I'm hurt."

I raised my eyebrow. "Sakurambo! Understand that you _were not breathing! _You had three bullet wounds and you had lost so much blood! How the hell were we supposed to know that you were in a fucking coma? Do you think that if we would've known that, we would have left you there?" She shook her head. "I don't give a fuck about that shit now! All I care about is getting my revenge. You and Tenten will both die today! You for not sensing I wasn't dead and Tenten for deciding to leave me there!"

She clicked the safety off and aimed at us. "Sasuke, run!" I jumped up and ran through the narrow alley that held the fire escape to the top of the building. "Let's go! Up here!" I went up the stairs practically three at a time with Sasuke doing the same right behind me. I ducked as she shot at us again. The bullet hit the fire escape landing above me and the entire staircase rocked and creaked dangerously.

Fuck. This was gonna be a lot harder than I thought.

**  
Ino  
**We made a sharp turn into an alley and ran down to the end, breathing heavily. We had to regain our breath. We'd been running for seven blocks straight without stopping, and I have to say my lungs were burning and the stitch in my side felt like very bad period cramps.

I closed my eye in pain and coughed a little and wheezed in some more heavy breaths. Shikamaru looked at me with a worried expression. "Are you an asthmatic Ino?" I shook my head and got up, feeling the air finally fill my lungs fully and satisfyingly. I sighed. "We lost her for now, but sooner or later she's going to retrace her steps and come and get us." I nodded. "I know." Shikamaru walked over to me and placed his hand on my hair, which I just realized was loose, and ruffled it. I sighed and pulled the scrunchy on my arm around my hair, pulling it into it's usual tight ponytail, and letting my bang flop out to the front. Shikamaru smirked. "You do too much for your image." I rolled my eyes.

"It's not for my image. It may be cute but it's to remind me that I'm in a gang and that hair is of no importance to me when I'm fighting. I wrapped the ribbon around it and put it in its bun and brushed my hands off on my pajamas. "There we go." I grinned at him and he rolled his eyes. "Ino, not the time!" I nodded and pulled out my revolver just in time to catch someone turn into the alley, silhouetted against the mid-day sun.

I backed into the shadows with Shikamaru as we prepared to fight whoever came after us. "Who the hell is back there!" We stayed quiet as Tayuya inched into the alleyway, her gun held out in front of her, hazel eyes narrowed as she scanned the thin path in front of her.

I looked at Shikamaru, he looked back at me. I turned and looked at a dumpster to my right. I looked back over at him and nodded my head in the general direction of the dumpster. He nodded and we crept over to it, ignoring the smell as we hid behind it. Tayuya inched closer to us as we stood in the corner behind that smelly giant trash can. She held her gun ready and she turned this way and that, still searching for any random person.

Her hazel eyes scanned our general direction but we were so deep in the shadows that she could hardly see us. She squinted at us, trying to see if there really was anyone here. I held my breath, as did Shikamaru, and we stayed completely motionless as she just stared at us; well not at us, through us, as if she couldn't see us. She then frowned and turned around. I let out my breath quietly and breathed in another without so much as a pin drop. She turned around and whipped her gun to face me and I lashed mine out and shot at her, missing on two and clipping her face on the third. Her cheek had a little cut on it. She smirked at me, pressing her fingers into the blood and eyeing it. "Ino, Shikamaru, get out of there! I know that's you!"

I bit my lip and stood, thinking that this could be it. She smirked and aimed her gun directly at me. "Say bye wannabe cheerleader." I frowned and then dead on glared at her, snapping my gun up. "I have three words to rebuttal to that." She raised a bright pink eyebrow. "And that would be?"

I glared at her intensely. "Go to hell!" I shot at her and she dodged easily and snapped the trigger on her gun. I backbended quickly and let the bullet zoom over my head up to the brick right next to the window of the building behind us. Shikamaru smirked as he put his hands together in an awkward pose that I easily recognized.

Tayuya froze and she went completely stiff. I smirked. "Good going Shika-kun!" He nodded and regained his focus on her. She tried to look down but it looked as though it pained her. "W-What the hell? You! You were trained in her ways too? No!" I smirked. "Hell yeah bitch get fucking ready!" I sighed, reaching my inner being and shot my arms forward. "Exorcist Art: Mind Transfer Jutsu!" She screamed as I slowly entered her momentarily paralyzed body.

Shikamaru let go of his Shadow Possession and caught my body before it hit the ground. He turned to me. "Ino, take her out quickly! We can't afford to waste any time with the sniper!" I nodded from inside her body and searched around her soul. I scanned around her spirit, feeling certain spots come out stronger than others. Hell, she was trying to kick me out. How rude! I frowned and changed my aura. "Fuck this bitch! Now you're screwed. It's time for Mind Destruction." I felt the murderous aura overcome me as I traveled her spirit, taking a turn down the Hallway of sub-consciousness.

Down in her memories there were sights of her rape. I winced but otherwise ignored them.

For a second I felt a pang of pity as more images and bits and pieces of her memory floated by. Her voice rang out. "Yeah, it sucks doesn't it? But thanks to that I'm strong enough to kick your ass physically and mentally!" I glared at the subconscious part of her. "Bitch fuck you! Then why the hell am I still in here?" I could feel the scowl on her face as the words floated around her mind in a blue-ish purple airy sentence.

She grinned smugly. "Because I don't want to take you out just yet. I want you to hear something…"

I frowned as her memories rushed past me, becoming more recent as her mind pushed me deeper into her subconscious. I reached a deep part of her subconscious mind all the way at the back, something she'd been saving or hiding so that I wouldn't see it right away.

Her soul transformed into her physical form although we were still in her mind. There was a cocky smirk on her face as she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the airy walls of her mind. "You came in here trying to destroy my mind." She let out a cruel chuckle. "Yeah, the only one that'll be in a depressed state after this is you." I frowned in confusion. "What the hell are you talking about?" She smiled sickeningly sweet, _too sweet_, and pulled the memory out from behind her. "_This,'_ she pushed it toward me, "is what I'm talking about." I frowned as it sped toward me with the force of her push and crashed into my own mind.

My eyes widened for a fraction of a second as the cold memory coursed through my nervous system and back up to my head. I could fully see it now.

Tayuya was on the phone, holding a Sidekick Four to her ear, a certain anger in her eyes.

"Hello?"

Ami's voice rang from the other line. "_Tayuya."  
_

Her face twisted into a frown. "What?"

Ami's voice sounded amused and I could imagine her licking her disgusting lips. "_She's taken care of Sasuke and Sakura already and she's aiming toward Tenten now." _Tayuya's face twisted into a smirk as my heart dropped into my stomach. "Great, so there's two down about nine more to go."

Ami chuckled. "_Yeah and from the text I just got from her she's saying that she's got Temari in perfect view. Kunai and Akuri Kaze better be prepared because by the end of the day they'll have no house and no leader…well no leaders. They'll have one and that'll be my Neji-kun." _I could practically here the smirk in her voice.

I grabbed at my chest, feeling my heart throb in sadness. Tayuya spoke. "I really don't give a fuck, I just want them dead." She licked her lips into a smirk. I felt the tears sting in my eyes as Ami spoke. "_That can easily be arranged."_

Tayuya laughed harshly. "Good, I don't want to see their faces in our business. And one more thing, make sure that even Lee doesn't live because he on his own is a problem." Ami let an "Mm hmm" escape her lips from the other line.

Ami spoke again. "_Do me a favor Tayu-chan." _Tayuya raised her hot pink eyebrow in anticipation. "Yes?"

I heard a little laugh from the other side of the phone and the smirk on Tayuya's face turned to a crazy, psychotic looking grin. Ami spoke again. _"Kill the Nara and the Yamanaka." _Tayuya shrugged with the grin still in tact.

She quoted Ami nastily. "That can easily be arranged." I felt sick to my stomach as Ami laughed again from the other line. "_You're funny. Just make sure you do it. Don't let them get away. I don't care if you shot her sixteen or seventeen times in a row, if she even twitches you shoot her again, straight through the head, okay?" _Tayuya nodded. "Gladly."

Ami spoke again. "_Oh but don't go _too_ hard on Shikamaru. If he dies we'll tell Shiho that you were aiming for Ino and he jumped in front of her, okay?" _Tayuya laughed herself. So they even lied to each other? Really? I swallowed the bile in the back of my throat and blinked back tears at the thoughts running through Tayuya's mind. "That would be funny, Shikamaru all bloody and dead." The images ran through her mind and she smiled to herself in a sick twisted way.

His eyes were closed peacefully but there was a worried and anxious-looking expression on his face that I couldn't quite peace together. Blood soaked his shirt and hair. There was a bullet hole in the center of his forehead and two others in his torso and right side of the chest. His hands were out to his sides, blood caked onto his forearms and upper arms. I fought back the tears but a few slipped out anyway and Tayuya's attention was wrenched back to Ami's voice.

"_My Jesus, you're imagining it already aren't you?" _"Mm hmm…" Tayuya grinned and licked her lips. "_Brings me to happy and joyful days. Think once they're out the way, and they will be dead by tomorrow, we'll be able to run this shit next to Orochimaru!"_ Tayuya laughed crudely. "Okay then, notify me of when the others are dead and I'll return the good news." Ami gave a simple 'okay' from the other side of the conversation and the line went dead. Tayuya smirked to herself as she tucked her phone into her back pocket and turned into the dark alleyway where to figures shifted in the shadows.

I winced as the memory brushed past my mind and sent a shiver down my spine before it left. Tayuya smirked, still leaning on the air. "You're gonna end up just like Uchiha and Haruno, you know that right?" I didn't move. I was paralyzed by her most recent memory.

I dropped to my knees and grabbed at my arms and let the tears drop. She smirked and walked over to me, picking up my head with her fingers under my chin. "Oh, don't worry. I'll make it nice and quick."

I didn't answer, I just stared straight into her evil hazel eyes. They shined with a certain darkness, there was a certain spark in her eye that had me scared.

She pushed me back and I fell on my back and banged my head against the bottom of the cold metal of her mind.

I felt the darkness begin to surround the corner of my eyes, the black splotches covering my vision. She kicked me in the ribs and I skid across her mind. How the hell did she find out how to beat me mentally? This was my game, so why was she winning?

She smirked as she came over and she kicked me in the face. I felt the blood spew out my nose and the dark splotches over my eyes cover my vision.

She kicked me again in the side and I skid a little further. The last thing I saw was her mental-physical being walking toward my body in killer Stilettos and then I felt my breath hitch in my throat and my body get heavy as I was swallowed by the darkness.

**  
Temari  
**My heart pounded in excitement as I turned down an abandoned street with Kiba right behind me. "What the hell are you grinning about? She's got a gun on her and you're sitting here smiling at possible bullets in your head?" I nodded. "Hell yeah!" I brought my fan out of the holster around my waist and opened it to all three moons immediately. "I swear whatever damage I didn't do to her in school I'm doing to her today! That bitch is in some deep shit today!"

I punched at the air and Kiba laughed. "Yeah, okay, and people say I'm wild." I shrugged. "I figure punching the shit out of people isn't enough. Turning nature against them in a way where I'm not mutating anything or destroying the o-zone layer with CO2 emissions thus increasing global warming works perfectly for me." He raised an eyebrow. "What?"

I smirked. "Exactly." I jumped behind an old crumbling house and pulled Kiba after me. I turned to him. "Okay, since we both work on spiral attacks I was thinking tha-!" I was cut short by a loud BANG and a hole being formed through the house just to the left of my head. I blinked and turned and looked at the bullet that was halfway through the wood. "Get the hell out! I know you guys are somewhere around here!" I rolled my eyes and stood up and walked out from behind the house, my fan up behind me.

"Fine Shiho, you found us. Are you fucking happy now?" She raised her eyebrow. "No, not yet. I'll be happy when you are completely wiped off the face of this earth. I don't care if I have to burn you alive and throw your ashes out into Chicago all the way in the United States so that they'll blow away, I will get rid of you Subaku." I grinned at that. "Great. You know my name, and now that we're acquainted, we can fight."

I swung my fan around and she jumped to the side of the wind pattern. I smirked and tilted the fan a little, taking the wind current completely off its original course and sending it toward Shiho. She narrowed her eyes and shot at it. The bullet went halfway through the wind and then dropped in level until it touched the ground. I smirked at her futile attempts. "I told you, that's not gonna work with me."

She smiled sweetly, putting her innocent face on. "Hey, that's okay. I'll still find a way to completely destroy you." I felt my eyes widen. Was she psychotic? "Bitch are you crazy? Number one, your bullets don't reach me. Number two, you're an ant compared to me. Number three, you can't fight for shit. Number four, I have a fan that kicks ass. Number five, I got hands and they work in case you didn't know. Number six, my legs aren't disabled either. And number seven, look at numbers one through six." She raised her eyebrow.

"You're really dumb, you know that, right?" I rolled my eyes. "It takes a dumbass to know a genius and it takes a genius to know a dumbass…" Shiho smirked. "Why are you calling me smart?" I shook my head. "No way in hell bitch. Think back on it. I'm the smart one, you're the dumbass. My diagnostic for you is you have a terrible case of extreme stupidity." She glared at me and shot twice. I swung my fan just slightly and the bullets whirled around and shot back at her. Her eyes widened and she jumped to the side. I switched the aerial current and the bullets turned and got her in the leg. She dropped to the floor, clutching at the bloody wound. "Ouch! You fucking bitch!" She frowned and then smirked as she looked at it. "That's not too deep, so in that case I don't have to worry. It may hurt but not enough."

She winced a little but she stood up easily and I ground my teeth together. "Come on, Shiho. Stop trying to play the tough one, that's me. You know that shit hurts, so why are you acting like it doesn't? Bitch I'm telling you you're in for it!" She glared at me and pointed two different guns at me, one a revolver, the other an AK. I raised an eyebrow. "What are those gonna do?" She smirked. "Let's say if you get hit that there's an even stronger version and dosage of poison on these bullets so your medic will have a hard ass time curing your ass." I raised my eyebrow, not in the least bit scared. "Okay, and how much time would she have to save me if I got shot?" She grinned wickedly. "Five minutes." I rolled my eyes. "Who's to say she's not smart enough to get me home and cured in fifteen without me dying on her." She rolled her eyes.

"I'm not in the fucking mood to argue, I'm in the mood to fight!" I set my fan out in front of me, widened out. "Then let's get this shit started you hoe!" She ground her teeth together and shot at me. I grabbed a kunai and threw it at her. She dodged it quickly and shot at me a couple more times. Kiba jumped out and shot at her a couple times. She gasped and dropped to the floor, scraping her knees and elbows in the process.

She let out a pained groan and got up, the blood dripping down her arms and legs. She shot at Kiba, who smirked and jumped out of the way. His dog barked out from behind him and ran over to Shiho. Kiba frowned as the dog jumped up onto her chest and licked her face. Shiho giggled, for once sounding innocent instead of violent. I turned to Kiba. "What the hell? Isn't your dog supposed to play for _our _team?" He gave me a grin that read, 'just watch' so I turned and watched as Akamaru licked her face. She sat up and pet him. He let out a fierce growl and bit into her leg. Her eyes widened and she let out an ear-splitting scream as more blood poured down her leg. "Your dog's got some sharp as teeth." Kiba grinned, his own large canines exposed. "Thank you."

I rolled my eyes with a small smirk in place and closed my fan, putting it back into the waist band. I pulled out my gun on her and leaned down next to her. I glanced down at her mostly exposed leg. She had two deep bite marks going down to the white meat. I winced as I thought about that on me. On the bright side, for me at least, she couldn't walk now.

I pressed the cold metal to her temple and I could hear her holding her breath for a quick second before speaking. "Temari, that won't work on me. You know damn well that I've been shot before." I rolled my eyes. "Obviously a couple times in the head too if you think you can survive a bullet in your temple, the weakest part of you skull, and the easiest to break through to the brain."

She let her crazy grin fall into a glare for a second and then she sighed sarcastically. "Well, I don't think you'll make the shot anyway. I have some terrifying news for you…" I frowned. "What do you think will be so terrifying to me?" Her eyes turned glassy and innocent for a second but through the thick layers of phony I saw malice and a psychotic glint. "It's Ino and Shikamaru-kun." Her head turned downward for a second. "I heard just a couple minutes ago…from Ami…"

I raised an eyebrow. "Ino's dead and Shikamaru's been shot three times…" I rolled my eyes. "Bitch, I don't go for mind tricks. Their fine." She smirked. "Fine then…don't believe me." There was a weird look on her face and I felt my stomach drop for a second. I pulled out my phone and dialed Shikamaru's number.

"_Hello?"_

I fought the urge to take a heavy breath. "Shikamaru, you're not shot anywhere and Ino's not dead, right?" He hesitated for a few seconds.

"_Um…about that…" _My eyes widened and Shiho smirked. "W-what…are you…is Ino?"

He groaned and I could practically see him shaking his head. "_No, Ino's not dead! But she's in some kind of subconscious fight with Tayuya and from the way her body looks, it looks like she's loosing. Her face is pale, she's got blood coming out her mouth and nose and she's got tears running down her eyes. I don't know why in the hell she's crying but whatever happens to her as a spirit happens to her here…I'm concerned for her now." _I fought down the bile in my throat. The worry in the back of my mind crept up on me like a terrible predator, like the ones that chew you up slowly just to see you suffer. "Fuck…Shikamaru, wake her up! Get her out of Tayuya's body, and I mean now! Don't let her die on me! You know damn well that's my bitch right there!" He groaned. "_I'm fucking trying! She won't listen! Just-…" _

There was a loud bang from the other end of the line and my heart froze in place. "Shikamaru!" He grunted from the other line. "_Shit!" _The phone went dead and I felt the panic come over me as I slid the phone down. "Believe me now?" I glared at Shiho and pressed the gun to her head a little harder. "Fine, if they die then I'll kill everyone in your gang till it's fucking EXTINCT! You hear me!?" From the corner of my eye I saw Kiba wince at the loudness of my voice. She raised her brow. "You taking on fifty of my fellow Professional's gang members. I like those odds."

I glared at her, the tears threatening to spill as I thought of Ino and Shikamaru. "But only because you die regardless how many you take down with you." I pulled back the safety with a click. "Die bitch."

There was a bang but it didn't come from my gun, it seemed distant. One second I heard that soft bang coming somewhere from the south and then there was a sharp pain in my upper back near my shoulder. "Fucking shit that hurt!" I pushed my gun back in my holster and placed my hand over my shoulder, seeing the blood begin to run down my shirt. I closed my eye in a wince. "Fuck!" Shiho's eyes widened and then she smirked. "Nice…looks like our sniper got you, looks like you shifted a bit though, those bullets never miss unless there's a last minute movement." She smirked at me and I stepped up and back, wincing and grinding my teeth together.

She smirked and lifted her gun to point it straight at me. I reached into my own holster and pulled out my gun, ignoring the surge of pain that ran down my left arm when I let go of my shoulder. I raised the gun at her, ignoring the blood dripping down my hands. She smiled sweetly again. "Temari-chan, don't do that! You'll hurt yourself even more!" Her voice was dipped in heavy sarcasm and there was a hint of venom and hate behind every word.

I frowned and then smirked myself. "Chick, I have three words to reply to that." She raised an eyebrow, dropping her act immediately. "And they are?" My smirk widened as I raised my gun a little higher, aiming straight at her head. "Go fuck yourself." She glared at me and shot the gun at my head. I dropped to the ground, feeling the bullet lodge itself in a little deeper. I grunted in pain but ignored the greater amounts of blood as I shot at her a couple times. She jumped up and one missed her but the other clipped her arm and it clipped her pretty deep. I glared at her as she placed her hand over her crazily bleeding arm and glared back at me. "You fucking bitch!" She ran over to me with her gun pointed out. I dodged her bullet and rolled to my side, hissing when my bullet wound went over the hard concrete street. "Fuck!" She smirked and took advantage of the moment and kicked me in the ribs. I groaned as the wind was knocked out of me. What the hell?! She wasn't supposed to be able to walk let alone kick me like this!

Wincing, I looked up at her and tried to lift my arm to point the gun at her, but my upper body was in so much pain it felt like it was going to collapse. She smirked and kicked me in the ribs again, making sure her heel dug into my skin a little. I felt the blood pour out a bit and I glared up at her. She grinned sadistically and pointed her revolver to my head, pressing it against my temple. She pulled back the safety on the trigger with, for once, a terrifying _'click'_ that made her grin widen. "Look who's at gunpoint now Temari."

I glared at her. "That shit's not gonna work. You know damn well I'll get out of this." She laughed cruelly. "Yeah okay. Obviously you've been shot one too many times in the head too if you think you can survive a bullet in your temple, the weakest part of you skull, and the easiest to break through to the brain." I glared up at her as she quoted me. "Hmm…" She let out a chuckle. "Fuck you, you fucking dirty hoe!" I spit at her and she glared at me. She pressed the gun a little harder to my temple. "Die bitch."

**  
Neji  
**I frowned and turned and shot at Ami. She dodged it with no problem. What the hell? She shot at us a couple times. I glared at her as Lee pulled out his own gun and shot at her too. She kept dodging but how in the hell was she dodging all of them? Were we predictable? I ground my teeth together and turned back around, running down the empty street with Lee trailing close behind.

I turned and glanced over at her bandaged hand. How the hell was she able to shoot at us with that injury that Tenten gave her yesterday? She shouldn't have been able to move her hand at all, let alone close it around a gun. I let out a frustrated growl and shot at her. She laughed when it missed her completely. I glared at her smirk and she licked her lips and winked at me. I felt sick to my stomach in a horribly terrible way all of a sudden. I twitched for a second and turned my head back around.

I jumped over a car and dodged one that was now driving at me on the otherwise deserted street. I didn't look, I just shot at her and I cursed under my breath at her laugh. I ran a little faster to get away from her. Lee sped up as well and eventually he passed me before he turned the corner. Fuck! Now I was alone.

I sped up and carried myself around the corner only to feel someone yank me by the hand into a small space between two buildings. My natural reaction was to punch them in the face but a hand caught my punch and Lee's voice whispered to me. "Stay quiet! In order to get her we must catch her off guard." I nodded and stayed silent and stared at the empty walkway through the small space between the buildings. It was a miracle that we fit here. "Dammit! Where did they go?!"

I heard her language before she came around the corner, fingering her trigger anxiously while her other hand was brought up to her chin. She searched around, skipping right over the crack. "Neji…be silent, still your breathing." I nodded slowly and kept my breathing quiet and at long intervals so that it was silent. Ami's eyes narrowed as she scanned the place and eventually she pointed her gun out toward the other end of the street. I smirked lightly as her eyes went wild and she turned to the other side and then looked above her. "Where the hell did they go? Dammit!"

I raised my gun slowly, stopping abruptly when she turned and looked through the tight space into the dark hiding spot we were in. "They couldn't possibly be?" She put a finger to her chin in thought. "Or could they?" I smirked as she looked behind her, taking advantage of the quick moment to bring up my gun higher and when she turned back around I shot at her with a loud resounding BANG. She screamed as the bullet went through all seven layers of skin and led down past the white meat to the bone, but didn't fully embed itself. It was just a deep clip. "FUCK!" She dropped to the ground and clutched at her leg, dropping her gun.

Lee pushed me out of the dark, slim alley and we stood next to her. It was against my ruling to hit a girl but that didn't mean I couldn't shoot her, right? I mean, sure I nearly killed my cousin, but that was different. It was Hinata. She would forgive me regardless. I smirked as I pointed my gun downward at her head. She blinked up at me, bringing false tears into her eyes. "N-Neji-kun…you wouldn't…N-Neji! P-please! Think about what we could be together! Just think about it…you with me instead of with Tenten…" A small false smile came up onto her face as the tears spilled out her eyes. "We would make the most powerful couple out there."

I smirked. "That's all you want. What you don't understand is that I don't like you." She grinned fakely and it brought sick bile up to my throat that I struggled to keep down. "You know you love me. You're just going out with Tenten out of pity, aren't you?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Bitch, are you fucking slow?" She glared playfully and I wanted to puke. "Stop playing Neji. Just give up on her." I maintained my raised eyebrow. She continued. "Neji-kun…think about it. She's only been here for two maybe three months and she realizes that you're one of the most popular guys in school for your stunning good looks and your skills as a gang leader." I let her talk. "Normally, a girl will go after the strongest and most feared gang leader to up her status and get others to fear her as well. Why else would she go out with you so suddenly?"

I felt my brow twitch downward and I let my face fall into an emotionless façade. Her words shouldn't have gotten to me, they shouldn't have affected me the way they did, but they did. I knew my eyes betrayed me, no matter how hard I tried to keep it secret. She sighed, a little satisfaction behind it when I lowered my gun an octave. "I do it because I actually have feelings for you Neji." I raised my brow and brought my gun up again. "You've got feelings for me alright. What are the words I'm looking for?"

I brought my eyes to the side for a second and then looked straight back at her. "Lust, want, need, and horniness?" She glared at me for a quick second. "No, I actually really like you for being _you._" I glared at her. "Stop trying to be Tenten. You could never be her. There's truth behind her words. All I can hear in yours is false sweetness." I didn't really give a fuck. Call me blunt and call me straight to the point, hell call me a killjoy but frankly I don't care. She was lying through her teeth.

Her eyes narrowed at me but frankly I couldn't care less. She sighed and cast her eyes away. "Fine, yeah, I might be trying to be her…but not because I want to…I just don't understand what she has that I _don't_ have. Why would you rather take her over me?" I raised my eyebrow again. "She's honest and works to protect the people of Konoha. She's herself and that's why I love her so much." Her head snapped up. "Love? Excuse me did you say love?" I nodded slowly. She glared at me. "Neji fucking Hyuga don't you dare use the words love and Tenten with the latter after the first in a sentence because I can guarantee you that you have no love for her."

I gave her an 'are-you-fucking-serious' type look. "How you gonna tell me? You're just pissed because I consider her a way better pick than you…you're upset because the feelings I have for her don't apply to you, and you're frustrated because all of your attempts to get with me over the course of the last six years were and still are futile." She sighed and glanced at the gun pointed at her head. Then she glared at me. "Fine Hyuga, you wanna play that game, then we'll play. She whipped out her own gun in a flash and pointed it at me. "Put the fucking gun down. My gun reacts in a ninth of a second while yours only reacts at an eighth. You're at a loss." I smirked. "Did you forget about Lee? He's right behind you, you know. You've got two guns pointed at your head. You're the one at a loss."

She ground her teeth together, eyes narrowed at me. "Fuck you! Need I remind you I have a sniper somewhere around this area and she could be aiming at anyone right now." I raised my eyebrow. "Okay, and?" She smirked. "She got Tenten a couple minutes ago…and she's unconscious or in some kind of coma right now from what I hear…and it doesn't seem like she'll be waking up any time soon if she wakes up at all." I frowned. "What the hell are you saying?" She grinned smugly. "I'm saying Tenten got shot in the head by a sniper bullet a couple of minutes ago." I glared at her. "Your lies aren't getting to me."

"Say all you want to deny it but all your doing is simply that, denying it. You can't escape the truth." I retracted my phone out of my pocket and pushed speed dial number two. She picked up immediately, her voice sounding a little preoccupied and frustrated. "_Hello?_"

I sighed. "Tenten could you please explain to Ami that you are not fighting a coma right now?" I could imagine the WTF look on her face. "_Tell that bitch that if I picked up the fucking phone then obviously I haven't been shot yet!"_

There was a loud bang and I winced. "_Shit, Neji I gotta go! Love you!_" The phone went dead and I pressed the end button on the screen and slipped it back into my pocket, buttoning it. "Yeah, she was really fighting a strong coma." Ami ground her teeth together. "Fuck! Why don't you play the old fashioned emo and just go into depression or something like that when I say that you're girl's dead or in a coma."

I smirked. "Because I don't give a fuck about what you say, what with how much you lie I figure anything that comes out of your mouth is as fake as you are."

Lee let out a chuckle at that and brought back the safety on his gun with a click. I mimicked him easily and Ami clicked hers off as well. She smirked. There was a small vibrating sound coming from her short jeans pocket.

A soft bang rang out around the abandoned street we were on and Lee was on the floor the next second with a bullet in the back of his neck, his gun lying on the ground next to his feet. He fell on the ground with a groan and tried, no _struggled _to grab at his crudely bleeding neck. "Aah! That hurt terribly." He winced and looked up at me. "I shall be fine…do not worry about me." He reached out toward his gun and let out a sharp intake of breath. He winced some more and Ami stood up and kicked the gun out of his reach. She smirked. "You'll be lucky if you're not paralyzed by tomorrow." Lee winced and with a little cry in pain fell to the ground. "Fuck!" Now Lee was disabled until that thing was removed.

I turned to her, my gun pointed directly at her face now. She smirked. "Now, now, now Neji, you don't want to do that. I have a sniper aiming at you right now. Put the gun down and come easily to me or keep it up and be taken unconsciously. Which do you prefer?" I glared at her and raised the gun a little more.

She grinned and licked her lips sadistically. "Neji, you're making a mistake. With a quick call Tenten could be out like a light."

"I won't let you make that call."

She smirked at me and took a step closer. "I don't really need to make a call. All I have to do is press a button and she'll do it without hesitation. She's got a bone to pick with your girl anyway."

I glared at her. "What the hell are you talking about?" She grinned psychotically. "Once you're both in Heaven or Hell, ask that bitch who Sakurambo is, won't ya?" I reached for my phone in my pocket to ask her, glancing downward to the buttoned pocket for a second. There was a cool metal placed to my forehead and I turned to look at her but it was a little difficult seeing as she pressed the gun harder to my forehead. She grinned menacingly. "I said _after_ you reached where you're going."

**  
Hinata  
**I felt my breath quicken as Tenten pulled us down different twists and turns to an abandoned mansion near the outskirts of town.

We stopped in front of the small house for a second. It looked like something out of an old horror movie. The windows were boarded up although the wood looked as though it were rotting. The brick was crumbled and old. The building itself looked like it was going to collapse. The old wooden oak door in the front had numbers engraved in the front, but they were so faded and torn that I could barely make out the 8300 they formed. I grabbed at Naruto's shirt a little, scared and I felt his eyes cast down on me. "Hinata, we have to go in…" I nodded slowly, knowing.

Hearing heels Tenten grabbed us and pulled us into the house quickly, wrenching the heavy door open without so much as a _creak _and pushing us in before quickly closing the door shut. She stood up against the door and pushed her hand toward the holster on her waist.

I looked around. There was nothing in the darkness except darkness. I grabbed at my shirt now and turned to Naruto. He gave me a grin and leaned down and whispered to me. "Don't worry. We'll be fine. You've got Tenten, you've got me, and you've got your skills. Don't count yourself out either. You beat Hanara once single-handedly without laying a finger on her. There's no doubt you can try that again." I sighed. "But she'll have that in mind when I'm looking through her thoughts.

He pursed his lips in thought. "That's true…but…" There was a loud BANG from outside and then a loud THUD against the oak door. Tenten pushed against it. "Fuck! She knows we're here! Stay silent!" She grabbed at her gun and released the safety with a quiet _click_. She smirked a little to herself as she fingered the trigger. I backed up toward Naruto. He grinned down at me as he pulled out his own gun from his pajama shorts pocket. He wrapped his free arm around me and placed his hand on my shoulder and pulled me closer to him, placing his cheek on the top of my head. I breathed shakily as he pressed his lips to my head and whispered to me. "Pull out your gun." Hands shaking in anxiety, I reached down toward my holster and pulled out my own AK.

He nodded at me and another loud BANG rang through the other side of the door and then another THUD as the bullet crashed into the other side of the thick oak-wood. Tenten leaned against it and her smirk widened. "She's coming." She said simply, an exuberant smile on her face. "Unlock the safety." We pulled back the safety on the top of the gun and prepared ourselves for when Hanara walked through the door. There was a loud THUD as her foot connected with it. The THUDs repeated themselves as she kicked at the door with her heels. "SHIT!" She let out a curse. "Hinata, Naruto!" Tenten whispered over to us. We turned our heads to look at her. She pointed toward the old stairs. We nodded and crept over to them before climbing up slowly.

No sooner had I reached the top step had Tenten been halfway up. She smirked as she got to the top. "Tenten, the door." I whispered to her. She grinned and pointed at the lock. She'd turned it the other way. There was no way Hanara could get in. "The back door!" She smirked. "There is no back door." I frowned. "The windows?" Her face fell. "Oh bullpoopie…" I fought a scream as a loud BANG erupted from outside and then I heard Hanara's breathless voice as she climbed in through the busted window. "Shit! Not the best entryway but it'll have to do." I felt my breath hitch in my throat as she spoke. "Now, where the hell are those two sluts and my Naruto-kun?"

Sluts? She thought _we_ were the sluts? Really?

Tenten glared at the bottom of the stairs for a split second before grabbing us and pulling us behind her. She twisted down a hallway and pushed the door to one of the rooms open. She grinned and pushed us through the black pink and white bed sheets until we were under the bed. She slid in behind us and we stayed parallel to the length of the bed. There was a the distinct sound of heels clicking on the floor and Tenten pushed her gun out in front of her so that they were hidden under the blankets but just far enough so that she wouldn't hit herself when the gun pushed back with the force of the energy leaving with the bullet.

Too scientific?

I bit my lip as the clicks entered the room and we caught sight of narrow seven inch Stilettos. We held our breaths for that minute as she looked around the room. Her heels _clicked_ on the floor as she walked over to the open closet and peeked inside. She entered it completely and began to feel around. My heart pounded as she turned around and scanned the room with her eyes slightly. She didn't change her face, although her lips did form a thinner line and her eyes narrowed a bit more. She stepped over to the desk in the corner of the room and looked under it. She walked behind it and checked there as well. When she found nothing there she let out and sigh, walking over to the center of the room and peering down at the rug. Her eyes trailed slowly and soon she narrowed her eyes and looked toward the dusty floor. Tenten mouthed to us, 'pretend to be dolls' and we nodded and stilled, holding our breaths and keeping our eyes narrowed but slightly open. She crouched down and we got an awfully exposing view of her butt cheeks hanging out of her shorts as she turned to look at us and with a sigh got back up and walked out of the room.

As soon as her footsteps faded down the hall we let out our held in breaths and took in fresh air. Tenten made a signal, putting up to fingers and then pointing them to the side. We crept out from under the bed and quietly scrambled to our feet. Tenten crawled out and fought a cough with much difficulty. The dust got to her. She'd never taken it well. She didn't have asthma but she was allergic to dust. She narrowed her watering eyes and turned to us. She pointed toward the door with her thumb and we nodded.

She checked around the room quickly, giving it a once over in two minutes, keeping her footsteps silent and then we crept toward the door. She took a peek out into the hallway and turned to us with a nod. She signaled us again and we followed her out into the long hall. We crept slowly along the old wood of the floor, being careful to not step on anything and not make any noise.

We reached the end and pressed our backs to the wall. Tenten looked around the bend down the hall and nodded at us after a couple minutes. We came out of our hiding spot and crept down this hallway as well. We inched slowly across the floor, peering into the bathroom that we passed and fighting back relieved sighs when we saw that it was empty. We crept up until the end and Tenten put her hand up to stop us as she turned and looked around the corner. She froze and I felt my heart drop. There was a chuckle from down the hall. "Gotcha!" My breath hitched in my throat and I hopped back into Naruto. He caught me easily and quickly pushed me back up, narrowing his eyes at the wall opposite him. Hanara's cruel voice rang out again. "Oh…I wouldn't make any sudden movements. I might get scared and pull the trigger." She laughed and I raised my gun slowly, Naruto mimicking me. She came around the corner and yanked Tenten by the hair around to face us. "Don't you dare shoot cuz I swear I'll use this bitch as a shield!" I glared at her, something I never really did. I felt it building up inside of me, that bubbling feeling of strong anger and dislike.

Tenten's eyes showed strong hate toward the girl as she pressed the metal of the gun to her head, fingering the trigger menacingly. She turned to Tenten, who had to bend down to remain in Hanara's chokehold. "It's a shame. Ami will be mad at me for being the one to kill you, seeing as she wanted to do it yourself, but looks like I'll have to do it." She grinned sickeningly, psychotically. I felt my stomach drop to my chest as I looked into Tenten's eyes, searching her thoughts.

'_Go ahead! Ignore her! She can't get me if she has a bullet in her head, she may be fast but if you shoot her out of the blue she won't be able to react.'_

I bit my lip as I closed my eyes. I could tell that Tenten wanted to let out a relieved sigh. She knew I read her thoughts. She held it back, however, to not give Hanara any more instigation than needed to pull the trigger.

I opened my eyes and looked up at Hanara. She raised her eyebrow at me. "Oh, little Hinata-chan…sweet innocent Hinata…innocent my ass, you won't have to say your good-byes to Tenten…" I narrowed my eyes and got into shooting position. She pressed the gun harder to Tenten's head, and Tenten, in turn, let out a grunt in pain. "You'll be going with her." I bit my lip and looked down at the floor, hiding my eyes with my bangs and letting tears pool in my eyes. She got us.

I couldn't pull the trigger as she blinked, it would take too long to pull back that trigger. I looked up at her and she glared back at me. I felt Naruto shake behind me in strong dislike and anger, and even though I felt the same bubble inside of me, I felt at a loss. There was no way we could. Tenten shifted slightly and held her gun up a little higher. Hanara smirked. "No, no, no! Don't try to get me because I'll shoot you." Tenten ground her teeth together and glared at her. "Bitch, didn't you ever learn to respect your elders?"

Hanara smirked. "No, because my elders were dumb asses and I hated them completely…" I raised my brow before quickly dropping it…I knew what she did to her parents. I bit my lip. She was crazy, absolutely insane. I knew that what she did to her parents she could most certainly do to me and Tenten. Tenten asked. "What the hell did you do to your mom and dad?" She smiled sickeningly sweet, a tactic they all seemed to use now. "I killed them." She said it softly but her words echoed down the two hallways easily along with the dreaded silence that followed.

I bit my lip and kept down the tears. I could imagine her doing what she did to her parents on Tenten. "I tortured and killed them, simple as that. Ever heard of a lynching?" I nodded and she smirked, licking her lips. "I love that…say…why don't I try that with you?" I backed up a step as she moved forward one, pulling Tenten with her. Tenten bit her on the arm quickly, trying to buy me time. I quickly aimed the gun and shot at her with a loud BANG. She ducked quickly, catching me when I raised my gun and pressed the gun harder to Tenten's head, drawing a little blood in the process. "So you were aiming to try and shoot me after all? Well then fuck this, fuck Ami, and fuck you! This bitch is dead."

It all happened quickly. I let out a scream, my tears dropping from my eyes, and in the moment that I blinked there was a loud, resounding BANG in the house and everything went silent.

* * *

_Muah ha ha ha ha! Another cliff-hanger! I'm so evil! *laughs* Yeah okay, sure. lolx well I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I know I sure as hell liked writing it even though it was a pain in the ass...weird to say this is the longest chapter I've ever written in my life, hard to believe, neh? It's around 12,000 words here so I think I kinda went overboard lolx._

_*Inner* **Hell yeah you went overboard! Chick, for real, 12,000 words? Are you insane?**_

_Ahem, anyway, omqeezy! Time for the suspense questions!;_

1)_Are Sakura and Sasuke really dead?_

2)_Is Ino going to get out of her predicament?_

3)_Will Neji get out of his situation with Ami?_

4)_Has Shiho pulled the trigger on Temari?_

5)_Will Tenten sort her confusion out?_

6)_Does Tenten really love Neji?_

7)_Is Hinata and Naruto's flirting adorable as hell or what?_

8)_Screw number two, hell is Ino even alive?_

9)_Is Tenten truly dead?_

10)_Has Team Professionals [AKA Team Prostitutes!] finally beaten them?_

_Find out next week on the next episode of Destiny!_

...Oh wait, wrong line!

Find out next chapter! And this is a long enough A/N so let me end it, kk's? Thanks to all who read and review please, they make me smile :]


	17. Conflict

**Chapter Seventeen**

**Conflict**

_This is the best thing that could've happened  
__Any longer, I wouldn't have made it  
__It's not a war, no, it's not a rapture  
__I'm just a person, but you can't take it_

_The same tricks that, that once fooled me  
__They won't get you anywhere  
__I'm not the same kid from your memory  
__Well, now I can fend for myself – Paramore; Ignorance_

----

The scream rang along the walls as the blood spattered and stained the old, rotting wooden walls of the two hallways. She closed her eyes in pain for a quick second as another girl let her tears drop down. She fell to the floor in pain, clutching at the wounded spot before feeling a sharp pain in her head and falling back and letting out a groan. And then she stilled and her breathing became shallower, her pain rising to a huge peak and her body's limits exceeded before she closed her eyes and let the darkness swallow her.

----

**Sakura  
**I stopped for the fifth time as the metal shook with the force of another bullet. Fuck! She wasn't trying to kill us through bullets, she was trying to crush us to death. But why wouldn't she just finish it? I looked up at her and noticed her blue eyes trailing Sasuke. I ran up, clutching his hand and pulling him. She wanted Sasuke? For what reasons?

I hopped up onto the last landing and dodged the next bullet, which was really aimed at us this time and I climbed onto the top of the building with Sasuke hopping on right after, not letting go of my hand. I fought a blush. This wasn't the time! I brought my hand to my side and he did the same before I reached into the holster strapped to my waist and pulled out my own gun and pointed it at her.

She narrowed her blue eyes in humor and brought them down to my gun in amusement. "Oh my, Sakura! I thought you were deathly terrified of those things!" I glared at her. "Shut the fuck up Sakurambo! Frankly, I don't give a shit about what you remember about me. It's been four years since I've seen you, and you've turned into this. You're worth no more than those other hoes and sluts you work with! Frankly, your no better than Orochimaru's wannabe girl self!" She glared at me and raised the sniper up to her eye, aiming at us. "Awe, Saki-chan, remember how we used to fight?" She brought back the safety with a _click_ and smirked slightly as she inched forward. I glared at her. I didn't answer her.

"Remember? We would argue like the best friends we were and then Ino would jump in and us three would just start throwing punches. You always beat us with your damn strength. Shit. It's funny really that you were only ten years old and you had the strength of an eighteen year old body builder." She smirked slightly and licked her lips into a soft, false sigh. "I remember the good old days…well…even if you did win those fake fights that we had as little girls, you sure as hell can't beat me now!" I rolled my eyes. "Saku-chan, I don't give a fuck about the past anymore, seeing as you let it go so easily."

She smirked at me crudely, closing her free eye and aiming at me. I couldn't care less. "Awe, Saki-chan, don't be so harsh. I let it go because it was painful to watch. I couldn't stand seeing your faces because it mad me sad…you guys are so hideous it's not even funny." I glared at her and shot at her. She smirked as she jumped to the ground and pushed the sniper back up to her eye. "Saki-chan, don't be so rude! If that's how you greet your long-time friends, then that's pretty damn mean!" I sighed.

"If you've betrayed us for Orochimaru you're not even a gang member. You're nothing but a memory to me. You're not a friend of any of us anymore." She grinned wickedly. "Okay, that's fine by me, but the point is I was, at one point, _your best friend_. How does it feel to let that go because of anger and rage?" I winced at the hidden harshness behind her voice as a serious upset look crossed through her features.

I bit my lip. "It…it hurts…" She smiled menacingly. "Great! I was hoping you would feel the sting, the ripping in your heart. I hope that shit hurts up until you take your last breath in a few minutes." She placed her sniper on the ground and grabbed a hand gun from her pocket. She was just about the only slut that didn't dress like a slut. She was in baggy pants and a shirt that went up to just past her rib-cage. She had always dressed a little tomboy mixed with hoe style but it was entirely innocent all at once, and even Tenten dressed like that now and then.

She walked over and placed the gun to my head. I could feel Sasuke's eyes on us. "Umm…" I turned my head and smiled at him. "We look alike, don't we?" He nodded but didn't say anything. I sighed and looked toward the ground, feeling the tears pool in my eyes. "This is insane Sakurambo…" She laughed and pulled back the safety on the small but powerful gun. "I know. Insanity rules your life after a couple years with Orochimaru. I'll admit it's crazy…" She licked her lips into a smirk. "But you see, it's wickedly insane, just how I like things."

I sighed. She smirked at me. "Sakura-chan, does it still hurt…letting me go…does it hurt?"

I smiled slightly and shook my head. "No, Saku-chan…It's numb now…" The tears pooled in my eyes. She laughed as I sniffled. "Still the crybaby, huh?" I wiped my eyes and kept my eyes cast downward, ignoring her as I continued. "It's numb now because everything that I needed to cry the night you left I cried it out…and my heart's numb now when I think about it…because you were my best-friend…you had been since kindergarten."

A few tears dropped. "I was with you practically since the day we met…it was nice to have you as company…and then Ino came along and joined us and we became inseparable. Then we met Tenten and Temari during elementary. Then when we got to middle school, Hinata came along…and we all just clicked after that. Never once at the time did we think we would start a gang…and get the reputation we did…But we did…in sixth grade once we discovered Orochimaru's plans. We'd all been doing kickboxing or karate…while every other girl did cheerleading…we figured we had abilities all on our own, and Ino had just completed her torture techniques. Hinata had her gentle fist style, I had my medical studies. Tenten had her aim and Temari had her fan…but you, Sakurambo." I took in a shaky breath and let my smile spread a little.

"You had the amazing ability to get rid of any evidence that we were there and you had a crazy great ability with finding out information on the enemy. Not only that but you had a kick ass ability at mimicking anyone's technique…" I sighed and grabbed at my bare upper arms. "You were a pretty good fighter too, but you weren't the best…and when you got shot by that guard at his hideout, we were all terrified. Ino and me checked you out a thousand times…I don't know how you're alive. You had no pulse…you weren't breathing…you were getting colder by the minute. You were dead…"

I breathed in again and let my tears drop fully now and Sakurambo smirked as I continued. "It's an impossibility for you to be here, but the fact that you are…and like this…just…saddens me…" I raised my hand and wiped my eyes. "It hurt me to acknowledge that you were dead, gone forever. I couldn't take it. I stayed in my room for days, not wanting to come out. I swear I was depressed as hell. I couldn't stop crying and I don't know where I got enough tears to cry my heart out for two and a half weeks but it was insane how I did. Tenten had to go in and slap me around to get me to snap out of it…"

Blood poured out as I bit my lip. "Twin…" She froze next to me as I said her old nickname. "You had taken up a huge part of my heart. You were like my twin, like my sister. I felt like I knew you since birth, Saku-chan. I couldn't let all of that go. I've been thinking about that this entire time. And when it finally sinks in that you're dead I see you and my God, you're evil!" I sighed and a few more tears dropped from my eyes and slipped down my cheeks. "But, sister, I don't give a fuck how close we were now." I pushed her arm away and raised my gun to her head. "What you're doing now is fucking irresponsible, insane, unintelligent, and unfathomably irrevocably UNFORGIVABLE!" I brought down the gun and replaced it with the heel of my foot and jumped back, throwing my gun off to the side.

She let out a scream and grabbed at her head. She winced as she turned to face me. "You fucking bitch! That hurt!" I smirked. "Sakurambo, looks like not even training with Orochimaru for four years can't get you used to my blows." She growled and reached for her gun. I raised a hand, putting my finger up and shaking it side to side. "No, sis! No guns, we fight for real!" She smirked and got back up. "Fine…you got it sis!"

She smirked as she raised the sleeves of her shirt up to her shoulders and ran at me, aiming at me with a punch. I dodged it easily and tried to punch her in the back of the head but she whipped around and caught my punch. I frowned and quickly ducked as she tried to punch at my face. There was a sharp pain in my gut and I winced and looked down at her fist pushing into my skin, a satisfied smirk on her face as she stared up at me. "I got you, Saki-chan."

She flipped back and I fell to the ground grabbing at my stomach. "Fuck! How'd you land a blow on me?" She smiled slightly, reminisces in her eyes for a second of how she'd never get me once, and placed her hands on her hips. "Training with Orochimaru taught me some things Saki-chan."

I got back up slowly, grabbing at my shirt where she'd punched me. I winced as I nearly lost my footing. Sasuke was over and holding me up already. "Thanks Sasuke…" I winced as I stepped away from him and stood up straight, taking in a deep breath and facing Sakurambo head on. "Alright sis, you asked for this."

I ran at her and punched at her a few times. She ducked and dodged until by chance my fist connected with her jaw and she went flying backward, clutching at it. "Dammit! Your hits still hurt!" I smirked. "Gotcha back!"

She wiped her lip and glared at me. "Alright, play it that way…I learned some tricks of my own." She stood up and stared at me for a second. I raised my eyebrow. "What?" She blinked, closing her eyes for a few seconds, a smirk spreading over her face as she opened her eyes slowly. "I know every move you have ever made. I know all your tricks…while you know none of mine now." I narrowed my eyes. "He taught you _that_ trick now?" She grinned. "Even Orochimaru had his advantages over you guys…like more experience in fighting, more time to collect information and create new crazy techniques that no normal teenager could think of. You guys are just mere teenagers and your power is mediocre compared to Orochimaru."

I rolled my eyes. "Sis, if our skills are mediocre compared to Orochimaru's then yours are fucking amateur." She glared at me and put her hands on her hips. I mimicked her. She raised her eyebrow with a smirk, as did I. "It seems we still share a brain, huh?" I kept up my smirk. "Obviously not seeing as I work for the greater good." Her smirk dropped with her arms into a fighting stance as mine did. She attempted to kick me in the gut. I jumped up to dodge and improvised to try to kick her on the head. She blocked it with her arms and pushed me off. I flipped backward and landed on my feet. I reached into my pouch and slipped on my gloves. "What's with the gloves?" I smirked. "It's about to get bloody."

She raised her eyebrow as I ran at her full speed, which if you ask me was pretty damn fast, and I switched left and right. She raised her brow and dodged my punch but fell victim to my trip. She fell to the floor on her back and let out a pained groan. I jumped up and flipped forward and kicked her in the gut. She coughed up blood and I smirked and flipped off. She got up with her arm around her waist. "Wh-what…the…hell?" She said between gasps. I smirked. "I've been training. I'm not some little crybaby anymore!"

A smile graced her features for a minute as she remembered the old days. As quick as it came up it disappeared, though and she coughed up a little more blood onto the rooftop. "Fucking shit that hurt! You've gotten stronger." "Xie xie." I grinned a little myself as I spoke to her in Chinese. "Bukochi." I laughed heartily, even in the midst of this fight. "It's a miracle we still think alike." She smirked. "Twin telepathy." I rolled my eyes. "It died when you did." She rolled her eyes. "But that's the thing, I've never been dead."

She stuck her bloody tongue out at me and I smirked and ran forward with a kunai drawn behind my back. She put up a finger, moving it side to side. "You said no weapons." I smirked. "Dumbass, read my mind. I said no guns." She sighed. "Shit, I gotta start listening to your ass…" I smirked as I reached her and aimed to get her in her stomach but she dodged and pulled out her own pocket knife. She smirked as she threw it at me. It scraped my cheek, but otherwise did no damage. I rolled my eyes. "Is that the best you've got?"

She pulled out gloves from her back pocket, identical to my own, and smirked. "Oh no, sis! Like you said," they came on with a snap as she let them go back to their original size. "Things are about to get bloody."

**Ino  
**I blinked awake slowly, painfully, after a couple seconds to feel a terrible pain shoot up my head. At that moment only one thought ran through my mind. '_My hair! It's gonna get bloody!" _I shot up and gasped as the sharp pain in my ribs intensified tenfold. "Argh! Shit!" I grabbed at my ribcage and winced. I looked up to see Tayuya smirking at me. "You're awake. Good…now you can feel every ounce of pain coming to you! Get the fuck out of my head!"

She kicked me in the gut and aimless silver purple and light blue blurred past me as I rolled back through the air quickly. What the hell was happening?

I shook my aching head, trying to remember. Shit…what was it that was happening? The black blotches in the back of my mind cleared up and brought forth pain, a ton of pain. And then I remembered everything. Tayuya had gotten me…she knocked me out. I bit my lip remembering her words that made my blood run cold like ice in the heart. _Sasuke and Sakura are dead…my best friend's gone again…_ I bit my lip as the thought ran through my head and fought back the tears. I blinked open my eyes and came back to reality in the sickest way imaginable.

I felt the fresh blood running down from my nose and lips dribble down my chin and to my neck and cake in layers on itself there. The pain in my ribs increased twice as much as it already had when I sat up. My head felt warm and my vision was a little fuzzy. And then I blinked a little. I blinked hard and my eyes came into full focus, although it hurt immensely. And I saw Shikamaru staring down at me. "Ino? Ino! Dammit woman, the next time you make me go through that I will personally kill you if Tayuya doesn't!"

I went straight with my instincts and let my hand run across the skin of his cheek swiftly, making sure my palm connected.

SLAP.

"Ow! What the hell was that for." I glared at him. "For being such a fucking dumbass! I'm serious in all the years that I've known you as a genius you seem particularly dumb to me at this moment!" He glared at me and pushed me up onto my feet. I wobbled for a second and winced as the feeling came back into my sore legs and grabbed at my head, getting a rush for a second. I blinked and shook my head. "Awe shit! I just noticed…" I winced. "That bitch kicked me out of her head…like literally kicked me out!"

Feeling rage overcome me I cracked my knuckles and let out a growl. There was a real mean chuckle coming from my east side and I turned and let my fist collide with Tayuya's jaw. "You fucking bitch!" She fell to the floor on her back and I smirked as she groaned in pain. "Shit! That hurt!" I smirked and crossed my arms. "You're going down you fucking bitch!" "Slut!"

She glared at me for my insult and shot up and pulled her gun out. I reached for the one in my waist holster and blinked for a few seconds as I felt leather and air mix into the holster. "Shit…Shika, where's my gun?" He got up and tossed it at me. "It fell out of your holster." I nodded and caught it easily and then turned around to have Tayuya's gun pressed to my forehead. I went cross-eyed as I stared up at it. She smirked at me. "Any last words?" I blinked. "Umm…oh fuck I'm screwed."

**Neji  
**I sighed. "Damn, and here I thought you'd be dead in a millisecond." She grinned at me and I felt my stomach twist in disgust. "Awe, you know you couldn't kill me. You love me too much." I raised my eyebrow, ignoring the cold sensation her gun brought up against the newly exposed skin and raised my arm to my side. "Get the fuck out. Just for that, get the fuck out." She laughed and brought her body to mine. I nearly threw up all over her.

She grabbed my hand with her free one and pressed her chest to mine. "Neji you're such a joker." I twitched for a quick second. "Get…the hell off me…" She grinned, her crooked teeth shining at me. "You know you like me here." Shit if only Lee hadn't gone KO on me.

I ran through the possibilities in my mind. My choices were A)try to fight and get shot…or B)pretend to like Ami and puke my guts up later. Well…choice A didn't seem so bad at this point…I mean considering the circumstances I wouldn't ever go down without a fight and Ami was a girl and a hell of a lot weaker than me but what the hell was I thinking? She had a fucking gun and I was plotting to punch her in the face and run with Lee on my back? Yeah okay, I didn't even hit girls…unless it was Tenten…I smirked deviously for a second at the thought, feeling the _other _thoughts run through my mind for a second until Ami giggled, sounding drunk. "Awe, Neji, I knew you liked me."

Well…looks like I had to play along eventually anyway. My thoughts only drifted to Tenten guiltily as I wrapped my arms around Ami's waist. I fought down a twitch as she pressed her body against mine and laid her head on my chest. "See, there we go. You don't have to be shy around me."

Tenten's face flashed through my head, her saddened face and then her angered face and then her murderous face and I fought down a wince. I could tell her…but then I would get the ass whooping of my life and I knew that all too well. Ami continued. "I'd rather have a man that's more…_outgoing_." She purred a little and drew a circle on my chest with her index finger for a quick second.

She cuddled into me. While Tenten smelled like natural scents; forest, pine, and a little like chocolate, Ami smelled like strong perfume and the perfume wasn't all that great either. I coughed a little to hide a gag and she brought her hand up to my face, letting her gun drop from her hands to the ground. "Are you getting sick? Do you have a fever?" I shook my head. "No…I'm fine." She smiled slightly. "Oh, that's great. I don't want you sick…I'd rather have you nice and healthy. Men in top condition and great health last longer." There was a double meaning behind her words. She wasn't talking about just plain life, was she?

She brought her head back onto my chest and wrapped her arms around my torso and linked them. "That bitch from hell could never really get to you, could she?" I unlocked my fingers and removed my arms from around her waist and quickly pushed her off, retracting my other gun and pointing it at her as she fell back on her ass. "Ow!" I smirked as I pointed the gun at her. She reached for hers but I kicked it out of her reach. She glared up at me. "So that's how you gonna play it? Fine then!"

I raised my eyebrow as her face colored in anger. "Okay then, if you wanna be like that then don't worry, I'll get you."

I smirked. "I don't think that's gonna be likely." She glared at me. "And why not?" I smirked and cocked my gun, pulling back the safety with a click. "Cuz you'll be dead by the time your brain can produce and process an idea." I pulled back the trigger with a bang and inwardly cursed as it missed the original target. It landed in her shoulder instead of her heart. On the upside, it got stuck in pressure point.

"Neji! Dammit that hurt!"

I shrugged. "I don't really care." I picked up Lee and pulled him onto my back before I hurried out of the street and back across to any abandoned spot in town to see if I found somebody.

**Temari  
**I winced as the gun let out its loud BANG and then smirked when it missed me by a mile. "Damn, Shiho, your aim sucks dick more than you!" She glared at me and then smirked. "At least I can get a dick." I raised my eyebrow. "What the hell are you implying?" "That you can't get a man." She sneered. I rolled my eyes. "Yeah okay, because Shikamaru's completely in love with you." I laughed as she blushed deep red and grabbed my fan from my waist holster, opening it.

I took in a heavy breath and brought up a determined face. "Alright bitch, now the real fight starts!" She smirked at me. "Okay then, let's go!" I swung my fan toward her and the wind around her strengthened in a millisecond, her low short ponytail flying behind her. "Dammit! These winds are so fucking strong!"

I laughed. "Thank you!" I got into a stance with my fan in front of me. She smirked at me. "Again, what's that gonna do?" I shrugged. "I don't know, why don't you try me?" She raised her eyebrow in suspicion but slowly raised her gun against the strong winds surrounding her and shot at the fan thrice.

Like air and breeze I was behind her silently and quickly, and she didn't even notice me. She cocked her head to the side. "W-where the hell did she go?" I smirked silently to myself, holding in my laughter, as I swung at her head.

My knuckles collided with it easily and she let out a pained scream and grabbed at her hair. "Fuck!" I smirked and disappeared into the wind again. Just in time too. She looked behind her and her eyes widened in confusion. "This slut's really a stereotypical dumb blond…" I laughed, knowing she couldn't hear me as long as I was within the safety of the air. She turned around and grabbed at her hair. "W-where the hell did she go?" I smirked and reappeared behind again and kicked her in the back. She went flying a few meters down. I smirked as she landed on her face and hands, scratching both up as she skid against the concrete of the street. "Ouch! Dammit!" I disappeared back into the wind quickly and watched in amusement as she got up slowly.

Blood dripped from different parts of her cheeks and chin and her nose and lip were broken and bloody as well. The red liquid was streaming down her hands quickly, leaving behind the same two or three tracks in its midst.

The smirk on my face spread like wildfire and I let a small laugh escape as she desperately looked around for me. I shook my head and raised my fan as I floated in the air like a leaf. With a quick swipe of my hand and a twirl of my body, a trio of twisters were sent toward her hugely. She let out a scream as one of them caught her. "Dammit! Not this again! And now there's three!" I drew up a little more wind toward me and whispered _To Kiba_. The wind swirled around me quickly before I spoke. "Tell him to do fang over fang." The small breeze circled me once more before drifting swiftly to the alley where Kiba had been.

I grinned and dropped to the ground, landing on my feet easily. I grinned at her form in the center of the three tornadoes.

There was a little laugh and a loud bark and then Kiba and Akamaru came running from the alley, Kiba grinning and Akamaru letting his tongue hang down in excitement. Kiba picked him up into his arm and yelled. "Ready Akamaru! Fang over fang!" He jumped into the twister that Shiho was in and threw his dog into the air. They twirled around each other like a screw and attacked Shiho. There was a few loud slapping sounds of Kiba's punches against her body and there was blood from wherever Akamaru clawed at her.

I watched in amusement as they corkscrewed back and forth, finishing her off. Then they spun straight out of the twisters. Kiba grabbed Akamaru and braced himself to land painfully. I twitched my fan a little and he was floating down softly all of a sudden. He grinned at me and gave me a thumbs up. I smiled slightly. "That was sick…in a good way…"

I looked up at Shiho's bloody body and regretted it, with the disgusting results spraying immediately.

Blood poured from her and splattered everywhere. A little got on my clothes and I stuck my tongue out in disgust. "Ew! Now I have to burn these! Who knows what she has?" I pulled on my shirt and took a look at it and gagged a little.

Getting tired of watching her spin in mid-air I twisted my fan and watched as she fell toward the ground. I twitched my fan backward and the wind brought her over to me faster than she was descending. I grinned and closed my fan, putting it out to the side. She was screaming for help but really, what was the point?

I smiled slightly in a crooked kind of way as her back slammed into my fan and the wind was knocked out of her. She let out a cough and then a wheeze before her eyes shut closed and she fell unconscious. Her breathing was shallow and hard. She was sweating, and her face was pale. "Good night bitch." I threw her body to the brick and laughed as it slammed against it and slowly slid down.

Frankly, I didn't give a fuck. I shrugged and stuck my fan back into my waist holster. I turned to Kiba. "That was wicked fun." He nodded. I winced as the pain in my shoulder stung sharply. "Fuck, I forgot about that!" I placed my hand over it, closing an eye in pain. "You okay?" I nodded. "It's Ino and Shikamaru we need to worry about." He nodded and grabbed Akamaru, placing him on his head, and we were off.

**Sakura  
**I grabbed at my ribcage as she sent me flying back. Fuck! How the hell was she deflecting them so fast? She may have known all of my moves but how could she predict them so easily?

Sasuke crouched down next to me. "Sakura, are you sure you don't need any h-?" I shook my head before he could finish. "Nah, I'm fine! Don't worry about me! I got this."

I brought myself up quickly and coughed up a little blood. I looked just as bad as Sakurambo did. She laughed between pants. "You're…good…but…not good…enough to beat…me." I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, okay."

I pulled out another kunai and she grabbed another knife and we ran at each other again. She smirked last second and I dodged a second knife right after her first. "Sis, you better get ready because I'm going all out." I smirked. "Yeah, well that goes double for you twin!"

**Ino  
**I gulped and I could hear the amusement in Tayuya's voice. "Awe, don't be scared. I'll make it quick and painful." She pushed the gun a little harder against my head and against my will I let out a pained 'eek'. She laughed as she pulled back the safety. "Get ready! Say your prayers."

I bit my lip and felt the blood leak out. _Please let Temari and Shika hook up! Oh and please let Sasuke stay in the village so he and Sakura can hook up. And let Hinata and Naruto hook up. And let Kiba find another girl if I die. And let Tenten and Neji get married and have kids! Oh yeah, and one more thing, let Kiba know that I-_

"Time's up!"

There was a loud BANG and I waited for the pain. I frowned. "Wow…she's good…I didn't feel a thing." There was a hard knock on my head and I growled and cracked an eye open. "What the hell! Never the fucking mind, I feel it now!" "INO!" I blinked and opened both eyes. I looked up to see Temari smirking down at me. "Jesus Ino, you were really going to let her get you that easily?"

I glared at her. "I was in pain dammit, and now you've added to that! Thank you so much for your help." She grinned. "You're very welcome." I rolled my eyes. "You know the definition of sarcasm, right?" She raised an eyebrow and nodded. "Yeah, why?" I grinned. "Just checking, after all you were never great with language arts." She glared at me and raised her fan. I laughed and ran away from her but stopped as the pain in my ribs became immensely too much to bare.

I winced. "F-Fuck, that hurts." She laughed and I glared at her. I sighed and placed my hand over my nose, feeling around. It wasn't broken or crooked but she had gotten a lot of blood out. I felt my ribs quickly and winced when I got to one specific rib. I searched the entire thing to see if I felt a gap. There was no break, which led me to believe it was either fractured or bruised.

I winced as I felt around. If it was fractured it would hurt a lot more, hell I wouldn't be able to breathe. "I have a bruised rib, a broken lip, a nosebleed, and I'm pretty sure paranoia from what that slut had running through her mind."

I rubbed my head and sighed before putting my arm down in pain. Temari shrugged. "You better get her next time." I grinned. "Will do!" She looked side to side. "Now…where's the lazy-ass? I need to speak with him." There was a glint in her eyes that hinted otherwise, that she was going to be doing all the _"speaking" _and Shikamaru was going to do all the _"listening"._ I twitched. "Don't go _too _hard on him, he did help out too!" She groaned. "Geez, I can never go hard with you girls around. Heh, lucky you weren't where I was or I'd still be fighting Shiho."

I shrugged. "See, about that I don't really give a fuck. I hope you gave her pain and hell before you knocked her out." She laughed. "Fine then, let me go find him." I nodded and she left.

My gaze shifted around the alley and I froze. Where the hell was Tayuya? And wasn't Kiba supposed to be with Temari? Hmm…okay I was officially freaked out. I was the only one in a dark alley and Shikamaru and Temari were probably a couple blocks away. I winced as another piercing pain shot up my upper torso through my ribcage.

With a sigh I turned and gasped as my vision was abstracted by gray. "Aaaaaaah!" I screamed when the force of the other person hit me and knocked me down. "Ow! Dammit! Who the hell knocked me down! I swear I'll shoot the fucker!" There was a dog-like laugh. "Damn, Ino! You had me all worried, thinking you were dead or shot and then I come and give you a hug and you threaten to kill me." I winced as he laughed again, shaking. "Ow…but you see, my problem is, I have a bruised rib and it's killing me right about now so if you squeeze me just a little harder you might be worried again because I just might die." He loosened his hold on me and brought me up. I rubbed my arms and reached into the pouch on my thigh, pulling out a couple wet napkins. He raised his eyebrow. "Why the hell did you bring wet naps?" I laughed and ripped one open before wiping my upper lip and chin and cheeks down with it.

"To clean my face off." He frowned and took the wet napkin from me and wiped a little spot next to my nose. I blushed a little as he moved closer to my face, searching for anything else. When he didn't see anything he grinned. "There we go, good as new. You only look like you got punched in your lip." I pouted. "And now you look like you've had one too many make-out sessions." I rolled my eyes and then I let a grin spread over my face.

Kiba raised his eyebrow as I stared directly at him. "What?" I shook my head and as quick as possible grabbed his head by his cheeks and pulled his face toward mine. I let my lips connect with his and smiled as he instantly kissed back. His tongue ran against my lips and I laughed and let him in quickly. Without much thought he pushed me up against the wall. I gasped. Geez, that hurt my back. But as soon as he started searching my mouth I forgot all about the pain and kissed him back easily. He grabbed my legs and pushed me up against the wall with his hands under my thighs.

A small moan escaped my throat when he ran his tongue against mine. I smiled and accepted his invite for the wrestle. I pushed against his tongue but he acted like a dog so it was no surprise when he pushed back easily.

Unthinkingly I fisted my hands in his hair. My breathing became shallower as the kiss deepened immensely. His did as well and I let out another moan subconsciously. "Ino." He growled my name against my lips and they tingled in delight at how the word sounded leaving his mouth. I smiled a little more and kept kissing him. I tilted my head a little for better access and he did the same but I tilted to my right, he tilted to my left.

I hadn't even noticed that I'd wrapped my legs around his waist until he brought his hands up a little higher, closer to my ass. I smirked slightly and then took in another heavy breath through my nose. I brought back my head and he trailed a couple kisses across my jaw and went down and back up my neck. Another moan escaped and I gasped in a breath. I smiled weirdly for a second, and I know I did. I really didn't want him to stop. I wanted him to keep going.

And then I realized what was happening and I slowly brought my lips down to his to prevent it from happening. After a couple more minutes I pulled away slowly. "Y-You mean like th-that?" I took in a large breath and he smirked. "Am I so good that you've run out of breath trying to keep up?" I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, okay."

There were a few screams and then little by little I could begin to comprehend the words as Temari's voice rang out around the abandoned block. "DAMMIT! WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU HELP HER OUT A LITTLE MORE! YOU SAW HER GETTING FUCKED UP AND YOU DON'T COME TO HER AID? WHAT KIND OF A FUCKING-!"

"OH MY FUCKING SON OF A BITCH WILL YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP!? Jesus, woman, you scream more than my mother." Kiba's hands were removed from my thighs instantly and I caught myself on my feet and briskly walked away from the wall. I fixed my clothes and rubbed my eyes for a couple seconds, just to get rid of any haze or anything they might notice. Kiba was fixing his hair.

Temari rounded the corner and crossed her arms. "Motherfucker." I laughed. "You _are _talking to Shikamaru, right?" She turned to me and nodded and I grinned. "Good, for a second I thought you were accusing _me_ of something." She smirked. "Is there something I _can _accuse you of doing?" I blushed lightly and shook my head and she laughed and turned back to Shikamaru.

"Motherfucker? Really, Subaku, is that the best you can come up with?" She grinned menacingly and I knew exactly what she was planning. "Hell to the mother-fucking no you whore supporting, Tayuya loving, Ino loathing, pineapple headed, jerking-offing, slow-minded, irritating ass, wannabe genius type motherfucker." Everyone winced at the long insult. He raised his eyebrow and Temari spoke again. "You didn't let me finish steroid balls." He glared at her and everyone but Shikamaru cracked up at that.

"Temari you're the devil and his son." She glared. "Hell no!" I shrugged. "Fine, fine." Shikamaru spoke. "Steroid balls? Really, if you're trying to call them small then you might as well unz-." I put my hands up and he stopped. "Ewk! I really don't want to imagine Temari doing that." He smirked while I closed my eyes and shuddered. "Shikamaru, you're no deer, we might as well switch names, because you're the pig!" He shrugged. "Great." He said it sarcastically. Temari rolled her eyes. "Whatever, my bet is they're microscopic and your kissing skills suck as well."

He raised his brow. "Yeah, that's why you were losing to me a few minutes ago." She glared at him. "Fucker keep dreaming. I'd never kiss you." He rolled his eyes. "Sure…" He muttered it under his breath and walked out of the alley with his hands stuffed in his pockets. I fought back a laugh as Temari let her fingers trail her lips before she turned around quickly and walked out of the alley. I noticed a small blush and laughed a little, softly to myself. She didn't hear me, luckily, as she walked out.

There was a bark and Akamaru ran over to me and jumped onto me. Instinctively, I closed my arms around him in a little crib style. "Umm…bark, bark?" He stuck his tongue out and licked the side of my face. Kiba walked over and grabbed him. "That's not your job." He turned around and whispered softly. "It's mine." I giggled a little, knowing he meant for me to hear that. I rolled my eyes and followed him out of the alley quickly, catching up with him to pet Akamaru.

Temari walked around the corner of the street. "Ino, we have a bad situation." I raised my eyebrow and handed Akamaru to Kiba quickly. "What?" She bit her lip. "She was never dead to begin with…" My eyes widened as realization dawned on me quickly. No way in the seven levels of Heaven was it possible. "Y-You mean?" She nodded. "Uchiha phoned. Sakura and her are fighting on top of the rooftop with the old rusty red fire escape on the side on 456th street. We gotta go, now!" I bit my lip and nodded. "Shit! I can't believe this." Shikamaru stopped Temari before she turned around the corner. "Are you by any chance talking about Sakurambo? You know, that girl Ino and Sakura spent all their time with?" Temari looked down and nodded, biting her lip.

Shikamaru sighed. "How in the hell did you think she was dead?" I crossed my arms. "It's a long story, but we have to go! Sakurambo has the ability to copy anyone's moves and she copies them damn quick!" He nodded and I dashed around the corner. I felt the others coming up behind me and Temari passed me easily. "By the way, where's Tayuya's body?" Kiba replied quickly. "In another alley. Once her girls find her, she'll probably have lost a lot of blood." I nodded with a small smile. "Where'd you shoot her?" He grinned. "The shoulder." I winced. "Ow…that hurts like hell." Temari pointed to her own shoulder. "Well no shit Sherlock." I laughed as we turned the corner.

**Hinata  
**The scream escaped my lips. The blood spattered the walls of the slim hallway and I closed my eyes and let my tears pour out. I felt Naruto wrap his arms around me from behind. "Hinata…calm down…" I shook my head and cried. "Hinata!" There was a worry in his voice. I dropped my gun and grabbed at my hair.

I bit my lip before speaking. "I-I c-c-can't calm d-d-down. T-Tenten…she's…she's…" "Alive." I shook my head. "No she's not. Sh-she's gone and I kn-know it!" There was small laugh that rumbled against my chest emitting from Naruto and then there was another one, a familiar one. It was feminine and tom-boyish and kind…and sounded a little like melted dripping chocolate. You know, the type of chocolate that makes that small high _plip_ even after the pot was filled.

I froze at the sound of the voice and let my grip on my hair loosen. My eyes fluttered open slowly all on their own and I looked up to see Tenten looking at me, worry filling her brown eyes. I blinked for a few seconds and let my mind sort out what was happening. "Th-then who…who got…?" She pointed at the floor next to her and I saw Hanara lying on the floor, blood dripping from her arm and her eyes closed in unconsciousness. Her braid had traces of red. "Why is she unconscious?" Tenten smirked. "I kicked her…" I placed my hand over my heart.

Relief washed over me. "I…I…" I wiped my eyes and smiled at both of them. "I'm glad it was her." Tenten pretended to gasp. "Oh my God! Hinata's happy at the pain of another person." I rolled my eyes and giggled and then I noticed the blood dripping from Tenten's cut from yesterday. "Tenten! Your cheek is bleeding again." She placed her hand to her cheek and stared at it and then smiled. "It's okay, there's no poison this time."

I sighed slightly and turned my head to look up at Naruto. I blushed a little. "Umm…N-Naruto…y-you can let go now…" He nodded and retracted his arms quickly, a small pink tint coming over his features as my own blush brightened immensely. Tenten smiled. "Awwwwwwe! Keep going Naruto, you'll get her soon!" I blushed and turned my head away, my blush becoming even brighter. Naruto didn't object anything but he didn't say anything either.

I bit my lip. What was he denying…or not denying? I closed my eyes for a quick second and shook my head slightly. There was a small ringing coming from Tenten's pocket.

_I got that boom boom pow  
__Them chickens jocking my style  
__They try to copy my swaggah  
I'm on that next shit now  
I'm so three thousand and eight  
__Yah so two thousand and late  
I got that boom boom boom  
__That future boom boom boom  
__Lemme get it now!  
_

I smiled softly as she answered her cell phone. "Hello?" She loved American Hip-Hop, R&B, and some pop. She would get on anyone's internet and listen to it just because she liked it intensely.

At the sight of her face dropping from it's grin to a dead on pale frown I got serious. "Are you fucking serious? Fine!" She slammed her Nokia shut. "You'll never guess who the sniper is."

I frowned and raised my brow. "Who?" She stuffed her gun down her holster and pulled us behind her. I waited patiently as she pulled us down the stairs and out the door, down the street and around the block onto another. Out of breath, she replied, "Sakurambo." My eyes widened and I felt Naruto's eye narrow in confusion. I shook it off. Sakurambo was…alive?

**Sakura  
**I winced as I skid across the rooftop and stopped about six meters away from the edge. Sasuke watched with his arms crossed and worry in his eyes as I got up slowly, in pain. Sakurambo smirked as she placed a hand over her ribs. "Double shot again…we need to stop tying." I smirked. "We sure as hell do." She smiled slightly, fakely, but there was something behind it.

All of a sudden she turned to Sasuke. "Oh! I just remembered…Orochimaru sent a message for you." She closed her eyes quickly and then as soon as she opened them she spoke. Her voice came out softly as a more snake like tone over took her own and I recognized the horrid voice immediately. "Sasuke…I know what you want and I know what you seek…you want to kill your brother, Itachi…" Sasuke's eyes widened for a fraction of a second and then returned to normal as Orochimaru continued. "And you seek power to do it…I can give you that power, should you just join me."

My eyes widened and I turned to look at Sasuke. There was absolute decline in his eyes over the top but through the thick layers of rejection there was something else there. It was unrecognizable and very hard to notice, but it was there. "And my answer to that can be summed up in this small but helpful phrase; not no but _hell _no." I laughed a little to cover my suspicion, but no one seemed to notice.

Sakurambo's cherry voice came back into play, but the snake like one didn't leave from her echo. "Why not Sasuke? You know that he can give you great power…look at how I turned out." He raised his eyebrow. "You mean just barely tying with Sakura?" She smirked. "I'm going easy on her. Best believe if I wanted to get rid of her I would've done it a long ass time ago. I tend to play with old friends before I get them."

I narrowed my eyes at her. She smiled at me fakely. I rolled my eyes as she turned to me and closed her own. The snake-like voice was gone when she spoke again. "What? You doubt my power?" I glared. "Bitch, I doubt that you have any power to begin with." She smirked. "Do you not see your condition?" I smiled. "Sis, do you not see yours?" She looked down and stared at herself. "You're right! Even when covered in bruises and cuts…" I frowned as she paused and then she went on indifferently. "I still look better than you billboard brow." I glared at her, feeling the intensity grow within me, and I lost it.

"FUCK THIS! BITCH GET READY FOR THE FUCKING ASS WHOOPING OF YOUR LIFE! I'M TIRED OF THIS! YOU'RE UNDERESTIMATING ME, AND I'M LETTING YOU KNOW THAT THE RESULTS…"

I darted forward at her and quickly knocked her upside the jaw. I watched as she fell back and the wind left her. She grabbed at her throat and tried to breathe. The amount of stress I could see on her face as it reddened from lack of oxygen was incredible. I smirked. "Are deadly…" I finished it as she struggled for air. Her eyes slowly shifted closed and she trailed into unconsciousness. As soon as I figured she was out cold I hit her pressure point. There was a loud exhale and then a large inhale and she was breathing…shallowly but breathing.

I turned around and bumped into Sasuke's chest. "Holy shit! Don't do that!" He looked down at me as I rubbed my nose. A smirk rose. "Sakura…" I blinked up at him as I rubbed it. "Hmm?" He leaned down and pecked the bridge of my nose. I blushed lightly and frowned. "What was that for?" He crossed his arms. "I don't know. Once you give me an explanation for kissing me at the gate I'll let you know." I blushed brighter. "I…it…I was…it…it was a spur of the moment type thing!" His smirk widened. "Okay."

He leaned down and his lips connected with mine. My arms found their way around his neck as his snaked around my waist. It was incredible how easily we reacted to each other. He pulled back quickly. I took in a deep breath and frowned up at him. "What was that for?" He shrugged. "It was a spur of the moment thing." I pushed off him and turned to look at Sakurambo. She looked pretty much like me, except for the darker hair and blue eyes. I smiled and shook my head, feeling the tears pool.

"My best friend in this whole fucking world other than the other girls…my sister…and she turns toward evil."

I crossed my arms and let a few of the tears escape and slide down my face. There were a few footsteps echoing down the block and I turned in time to see Temari, Kiba, Ino, and Shikamaru coming in from one side of the block. On the other corner, Neji, Tenten, Naruto, and Hinata all appeared as well, with Lee riding on Neji's back. I frowned. What went on with them?

They all took one quick glance at Sasuke and me and rushed over. The questions ran as through as they reached the top of the fire staircase. "Are you okay?" "What happened?" "Is that really her?" I put a hand up and silenced them. I felt dizzy now. "We're fine. I knocked her out…and yeah…it's really Sakurambo."

Ino jumped over and hugged me and her hot tears rolled down onto my shirt only after a couple of seconds. I fought back my own and patted her back. "She's alive! That's great! She's alive! It can finally be billboard brow, the pig, and the copy-cat." I laughed quietly and shook my head. "It can't be…she's chosen Orochimaru over us…"

She sighed and wiped her eyes, pulling back after a little. "Well…you have extreme persuasion powers." She winked at me and I blushed lightly. "You can get her on our side again." I bit my lip and looked down at the floor, nervous. "I…I can't Ino…she's so pissed at us for leaving her because we thought she was dead…and she hates us so much now that she'd practically die for Orochimaru…" I wiped at my eyes quickly, before the tears could spill out.

Ino sighed. "It's worth a try, isn't it?"

I kept biting my bottom lip and I turned and looked over at Sakurambo's bruised and bloody unconscious form on the rooftop. She looked so similar to me it was like looking at my reflection if I threw on blue contacts and let my hair grow out.

I crossed my arms over my chest and walked over to her. I looked down at her face, scratched and bruised as well. I sighed. "Saku-chan…"

----

She fought down the small smile that threatened to grace her lips. She put up a good act, on the one hand, and she really did go all out on Sakura. She'd woken up just in time to hear their short conversation, and she cracked an eye open just a little to get a peak at Ino now. She figured Ino was as beautiful as ever with her short shining blond hair and dazzling ice blue eyes.

There was a few _clicks_ and then a little sneer as Ami and her girls walked up onto the rooftop slowly, pained by their wounds. "S-Sakurambo! What the hell did you guys do to her?" Said girl fought back a laugh.

"I knocked her unconscious. Frankly, now she's not worth any more than any of you." She could practically see Ami glaring holes into Tenten and Sakura's skulls for that. "Glaring at me won't make you any prettier honey. As a matter of fact it causes wrinkles." Kunai laughed at that.

There were a few more _clicks _up until they reached the deeper pinkette's ear. "Sakurambo, wake the hell up!" There was a sharp pain in her head and she shot up quickly, rubbing the abused spot. "You fucking bitch that hurt!" Ami smirked and licked her lips. "Good, now get the fuck up." Sakurambo glared at her but complied. Ami turned and walked back to the fire escape slowly.

This was her chance. She slowly reached for the gun a couple feet away from her. Everyone in Kunai was staring at her, as well as Akuri Kaze. They all seemed at ready for anything. Sakura opened her mouth to say something but Sakurambo begged her with her eyes to not say anything and Sakura nodded her head, reading her thoughts easily.

Sakurambo lifted it slowly and pointed it at the sluts. They turned and gaped. "Sakurambo! What the hell do you think you're doing you little ass bitch?"

A small smirk overcame her face as she pulled back the safety. "This." A loud BANG rang through the abandoned street and everyone's jaws dropped in disbelief.

* * *

_Muah ha ha! Third cliff-hanger in a row! Damn! I think... - _

_that this shit is getting old already lmfaoo wow. Anyway I hope you guys liked this one! No suspense questions. I'm imagining you guys thinking of them all on your own! ;] lolx_


	18. Betrayal

**Chapter Eighteen**

**Betrayal**

_I'm just tryna warn ya,_

_I'm a heartbreaker_

_Even if I push up on ya_

_I'm a heartbreaker_

_Even if you get my number_

_I'm a heartbreaker_

_  
Don't even try to start_

_Cuz I will break your heart  
I'm a heartbreaker – Danity Kane; Heartbreaker _

----

_She smirked in satisfaction as the girl let out a blood-curling scream and clutched at the wounded spot. She licked her bright pink lips into a smirk and aimed the gun at the other four. "You know, there's a reason why I purposely missed the girls."  
_

_----_

Everyone's eyes widened as shock settled into them. Deep within herself she could feel pride. She felt her heart pounding against her ribcage. She felt the adrenaline pump itself through her veins quickly as the other four stared at the gun pointed at them and then they let easy smirks creep up onto their faces. "Really, you expect to get all four of us with a little gun like that?" She smirked, her bright pink lips pulled up at a corner. "Oh, don't worry. Four years of being a sniper has taught me how to pull a trigger quickly so there's no need for you to worry if you take at least two steps toward me because I can guarantee you that those are the amount of steps I'll allow you." She narrowed her eyes in mild twisted amusement at the other girls' faces.

Then the leader stepped up slowly. "I don't care…how good you've become." She clutched at the bloody hole near her side where there was a large gash and a tear in her shirt from where she'd been clipped. "You…can't…beat us…we've got…twice as much experience as you…" She let a slight smirk creep up to her face as well. "Which means that…we…can easily…beat you…" She let a pained expression cross her features for a few seconds before she let out a grunt and met the opposing girl's gaze again. "You know…it's a fucking shame…" She stopped to take in a heavy breath and wince as the pain struck again.

It eased up quickly, however, and she continued. "You were…really…talented at what…you did…but it looks like…your talents…are going to be gone…for good." She took in a heavy breath and closed an eye in pain. The other girl smirked and shook her head as she lowered the gun. "Take your best shot." She smirked slowly, her chapped, pale lips coming up at the ends. "Girls…" They reached into their pockets and weakly pulled up a few guns. It look like it took the last of their strength to do it.

The one girl smirked herself and turned to look directly into the emerald green eyes of the one that seemed almost identical to her. They shared no words but the other nodded in understanding and the girl's smirk only widened to match her opponent's cocky one. She turned her head toward her. "Well…it seems that you girls have hit some kind of barrier that doesn't allow you to move." Her expression hardened slightly. "In case you didn't hear me I said; TAKE YOUR BEST SHOT!"

Four loud BANGS resounded against the old brick buildings on the abandoned street, so close together they sounded almost simultaneous.

A smirk found its way to her face as the blood spattered the concrete of the rooftop.

**  
Sakura  
**I let my smirk drop immediately and kept up my emotionless façade. To my right I could see Sakurambo mimic me not out of amusement but just of something we came to do after a couple years.

We didn't let our smirks shine as Shiho, Tayuya, Hanara, and Ami dropped to the ground in pain, all letting out equally high-pitched screams. We kept them down and kept up emotionless faces because of the simple fact that…

We didn't shoot the first two triggers…

The girls all turned their heads to see who was behind them.

I let my jaw drop in disbelief as did everyone else with Sakurambo as the exception. There before us stood a red-haired slut, her hair blown back by the wind and her glasses glinting in the sunlight of the mid-day sun as she held out two brand new shining AKs. A slight smirk raised up the corners of her glossy pink lips. "Gotcha." Ami's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates when she cast her eyes up on Karin.

They narrowed slowly. "How…could you? Y…you're…you're supposed to be…my co-leader…my best-friend?" She smirked. "Well guess what…blood runs deeper than water."

I raised my eyebrow. "What are you talking about? What do you mean blood runs deeper than water?" Sakurambo smirked and walked over to Karin and wrapped her arm around Karin's shoulders sisterly-like. "We're cousins." My eyes widened for a fraction of a second.

Ami didn't seem surprised by it. As a matter of fact, she seemed pissed about it. "Damn, so twelve years of being best friends doesn't mean shit to you?" Karin rolled her maroon eyes from behind her glinting glasses. "Blood runs deeper than water as good will always triumph over evil."

My arms folded all on their own idea as I paid close attention to what Karin said next. "Ami, I hate to say this, but I was never with you from the start. You see, I knew Sakurambo was my cousin and I always saw her hanging out with Sakura. Eventually, when we formed our gang and joined forces with Orochimaru, I scheduled a talk with her." She smiled slightly. "You see, I was plotting your downfall and have been for the past four years as well. I may have been preparing for this and learning techniques and attacks from you and Orochimaru, as well as Sai and Zaku, but you see there's the point, to learn what you could do so I could have something against you. I know all your strengths and weaknesses."

Ami ground her teeth together angrily. "You fucking traitor!" She spat at Karin. I could see no regret or hurt in Karin's eyes. She simply smiled. "Yeah, I'm a traitor, a traitor to temptation of power and evil. You really have no idea what Orochimaru's _true _intentions are, do you?" Ami nodded with an angry face on. "Yes, I do! He plans to share rule over Konoha's gangs and shit with us at his side. You're either with him or against him. The latter leads to your grave though. I swear once I tell him you're in for it. You know what he does to traitors!"

Karin let a smirk escape and broaden. "I don't give a fuck if you tell him or not, plain and simple. I'm not scared of him. Frankly, he's no more of a girl or woman than Tenten or Hinata." I fought down a laugh at that as Karin continued. "And what's more is I know all his people and what they do to kill. I know their weaknesses too. Ami, don't you understand that I did it to go against you from the start?" Ami's eyes narrowed dangerously and she grabbed at her newly deepened side wound. "You fucking bitch!" Karin put on a false smile that came to me so well now, after four months. "Ami, I say this because I care. Look up the word's double and agent and then see how two negatives make a positive as a grammatical rule. Then maybe you'll get me."

She turned and walked over to me with a few sharp '_click'_s of her Stilettos. She smirked and placed her hands on her hips, glancing down at me. "This is a shock now, isn't it?" I nodded slowly and then I let a smirk slide up. "You certainly put a twist on things, that's for sure." She laughed and for once it didn't sound fake and cruel.

It sounded a hell of a lot sweeter than she forced most people to believe she was. It was soft and high-pitched and yet really pretty. She turned to Tenten and walked over to her quickly and very agilely in her tall heels. She crossed her arms. "I've been an unofficial member of Kunai for six years now working as a double agent appointed by third in command Sakurambo. Now that I've proven my worth and advantage to this group, the least you could do is make me an official member." Tenten seemed uneasy about it.

Her eyes darkened and there was a sudden shadow and aura about her. Then she smiled and nodded. "Hand out please." Karin complied and stuck her hand out. Oh hell and no. Now I had to cure her too. Initiation into Kunai was critical. It was crazy especially on days when Tenten was on a rampage.

Because newcomers had to fight her at her strongest to get in.

She slipped a kunai into Karin's hand and smirked. "No light shit anymore, like you pretended to do with the whores?" Karin's grin reflected her answer. "Nope, I go full force this time."

Tenten smirked. "Good…because I gotta warn you, you'll need to go all out."

**  
Tenten  
**There was a sharp slam in my heart and I smirked, recognizing the feeling of my adrenaline pouring out by the gallons. I could feel my heartbeat increase a hundred fold in excitement. "Ready? This is gonna be hard. You're on top of a rooftop. Just be lucky that these rooftops aren't so far apart."

Karin smirked and nodded her head slowly, clutching the kunai and getting into position. I smirked. "On my mark. Get set…"

I shot my gun quickly once into the air and no sooner had the bullet touched the sky then had we both lunged forward at each other quickly. The bullet flew back down with the force of gravity and made a soft _clang _that matched Karin's knife against mine. I felt the exhilaration course through me and spread into a smile that went from ear to ear on my face. Karin grinned slightly. "What's with the look in your eye. How long has it been since you initiated someone?"

I shrugged. "Since Hinata."

I flipped backward and landed on my feet evenly before casting away my knife and reaching for the strap on my back. I pulled out my wooden staff and smirked. "I go old school in case you didn't know." Karin shrugged. "Fine by me."

She ran at me a hell of a lot quicker than she had when she fought for Ami's side and clashed her knife against my staff. I brought it up over my head to defend myself from the blow and quickly turned it and snatched the knife out of her hand. The weapon slipped out and went flying toward another building quickly. She shrugged and stepped back with a grin that matched my own in excitement.

I got into a steady stance with part of the staff in front of me, at least two feet of it. Karin ran at me again and pushed off the staff and flipped a couple times in the air, letting her stiletto stand out to barrage me. I stepped back and she brought both feet down just in time to stumble a couple steps and catch her balance in those huge heels. I let a small smirk creep up onto my face.

She smirked back and ran at me again. I back bended against her punch and flipped back, aiming to kick her uppercut style in the process. She jumped up and flipped back easily to dodge it. I smirked and pushed off my hands, staff still in my right one, and landed on my feet, pushing the staff out in front of me again.

She took another shot at punching me and I dodged it easily. She smirked and did a few backward flips. Once her heels _click_ed against the metal of the fire escape she turned around and kicked up one of the metal bars of the railing. The long bar went flying into the air. She caught it easily and turned back to me, mimicking my stance. "I'm ready when you are."

My smirk could only get bigger as I twirled my staff a few times and held it out in one hand behind me, so it ran parallel to my arm. She smirked as I put out my hand and signaled her to come to me. She took a couple fast steps and went Olympic style on me. She slammed the edge of the metal bar against the ground and lifted into the air, flying toward me, regardless of the inflexibility of the metal bar. She pulled it in front of her as soon as she was a few meters in the air. She swung it over her head and I blocked it quickly as it came sailing down toward my head. She was eight meters in the air when our staffs slammed together. There was no way in hell she could make that landing without fucking up her legs.

Of course, she'd been hiding her real abilities all this time. She let go of her metal bar and as it came crashing down on me she pushed off of my staff and flipped forward to land behind me. As soon as she landed I acted on impulse. I twisted my staff around quickly and deflected the bruise that would come with the hard metal pole on my nose. I let out a relieved sigh as it crashed down the ground in front of me and turned back to Karin. She shook her head with a grin. I let my smirk convert to a grin and then I let a small laugh escape. "You nearly got me." She shook her head again. "I know…by a millisecond." I let another laugh leave my throat.

She held her grin as I tossed my staff to the side. "Fine, we do it street fighting style." She smirked and walked up to me slowly. As soon as she was a couple feet in front of me she got into her stance and I got into mine. "Shit…I wish my hair was tied up right about now." She laughed at my comment as I quickly grabbed at the ends. I turned back to her and swung. She ducked and aimed to get me in the stomach. I dodged to the side easily and squatted down and tried to trip kick her. She jumped over my leg easily and landed on the cement like nothing with those heels on.

I flipped back onto my hands and did a split and started twisting around. I got her once but she backed up after the first one. I caught a glimpse of her wiping a little blood from her lip. I pushed off back to my feet and smirked at her. She let her own smirk shine right back and got back in her stance. I did a few flips toward her and pushed off on the last one high into the air. I brought my leg out. She dodged my barrage and I caught myself before I could break my leg on the rooftop. There was a sharp pain in the back of my head and I turned around to dodge another punch from her.

Holy shit she was fast.

I smirked as I relieved my backbend into a handstand and uppercut kicked her in the jaw. There were the _click_s of her shoes as she took a few steps back to steady herself. I took a quick glance at her to see her running at me again. I was aiming to push off but she got to me way too fast. She tried to kick me. Lucky for me I was like a human rubber band…like a snake. I brought my legs over my head and blocked the kick and then I flipped forward onto my feet again and brought my leg up high and kicked her in the head swiftly.

She fell back that time and I let a small smirk creep onto my face again. There was the feeling of calf on calf before she twisted my leg and I fell on top of her. She smirked and grabbed at my face, her nails digging into the skin there. I winced at that as she brought her fist back and tried to punch me in the face. I caught it quickly and got her across the face. She turned her head for a second but she freed her hand from my grasp and curled it into a fist before it ran across my face. I felt a little blood in my mouth but it didn't matter to me.

I grabbed her hand and ripped her glasses from her face, tossing them to the side. She didn't seem to care. I punched her in the eye and nose a couple times and she got me in the lip and nose a few times too.

We quickly grew tired of it and she went jiu-jitsu on me. She twisted her upper body to the side and then to the next, each time going faster than the last, gaining momentum, before she completely did a one eighty and disconnected our legs. I got into a handstand and turned around in time to flip over her foot. She brought it back as I landed on my hands again. I smirked up at her and she did nothing but grin at me.

I curved my back a little to bring my feet out to the front a little more and began to kick at her. Most of them missed but a couple got her in the jaw. She blocked my last kick with her arms and pushed my legs back. I lost control of weight as my legs went flying back to the ground. I felt my cheek scrape against the concrete of the rooftop. I was just lucky it was pretty smooth because if it had been bumpy I'd probably _have_ no cheek anymore.

I winced as the cut on it expanded just a bit. I rolled back onto my feet and grabbed at the wound as the blood slowly streamed down my face like tears. I wiped it with the back of my hand and smirked as she walked over to me. She placed her hands on her hips with a smirk of her own. "Is that all I need to do?"

My smirk stayed in tact. "Is that all you got?" I retorted easily. She shook her head. "Not even half of it." I raised my eyebrow as she shut her eyes quickly and reclined her head back. Her arms were out by her sides, unmoving. Her entire body was motionless.

She stayed like that for a couple minutes and then she snapped her head down with a smirk. She raised her arms and pointed at herself. "Watch and be amazed." She closed her eyes and twisted her face into one of concentration. Slowly her cuts were being healed. They grew smaller and smaller until they completely disappeared. There was no blood left behind either. It all dried up. She looked as good as new. So that's how those girls were able to fight one day after another.

Karin had incredible healing abilities. She looked as good as new. She smirked and her eyes blinked open. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Impressed? Yes, I think so." She let a small laugh escape as I shrugged. "Does it really matter to me if you can heal yourself? You can do that a thousand times and you'll still find it difficult to beat me." She laughed. "Okay."

There was a blur around me as I stood behind her with a kunai to her neck. "It is…" She did nothing but laugh. "Ah, you're funny Tenten. See when I was with the Professionals I always had to hide my laughs at what you said." I shrugged with a smirk. "Try to sweet-talk me all you want, you've still lost." She shrugged. "Fine by me."

I sighed and shook my head with a couple _tsk_s. "Such a shame…oh well." I brought my fist up to her temple and knocked her out quickly. She fell to the ground with a _thud_ and her eyes shut closed in unconsciousness. I crossed my arms over my test. "Looks like you lost."

My breath hitched in my throat as I caught sight of her face. Was she…smirking? In unconsciousness? Oh there was no way in the seven levels of Hinata's thirteenth birthday cake that was possible. And what made things screw with my mind worse was she was talking now. "That's nice to know but…"

I felt suffocated as a cold blade pressed against my neck the next instant. "I think I just won." I turned to look behind me to see Karin there. "B-but how the hell did you do that?" She shrugged. "Just as Sakurambo can copy a person's moves and techniques in an instant I can heal myself in a few seconds." I shook my head. "Not that! How the hell did you wake up so fast?" She laughed. "Yeah, I can heal myself without medical equipment. It runs in the family, it's kind of a weird thing that my branch of exorcists can do. We heal the soul and slowly we send out the soul to our wounds and it patches them up…it's actually pretty cool." I grinned. "Well, you didn't win, because initiation finished once you fell to the ground unconscious…you lost." She sighed and slight disappointment showed in her gaze as I fell serious all of a sudden.

I removed the blade from my neck and stepped out a few feet in front of her and turned around with my arms crossed. I continued. "I'm sorry but you are not an unofficial member of Kunai." She sighed and shrugged. "Ah, it was worth a shot." I raised my eyebrow. "Bitch slow down!" She raised a glare at me and I laughed. "I said you're not an _un_official member." She perked up for a second. "Wait, what does that mean?"

I grinned. "Welcome to the gang."

----

I toweled my hair dry as I walked out of the bathroom, dressed in sweats and a tight tank-top that showed off my belly button a little. I yawned lightly as I rubbed my hair against the towel. "Damn, I'm tired as fuck." I laughed a little to myself as I walked down the stairs. I made my way downstairs to see everyone gathered in the kitchen, showered, refreshed, and less bloody, all except for Sakura, who'd been tending to everyone's wounds.

She and Sakurambo were sitting next to each other on the three-seater with Sakurambo on Sakura's left and Sasuke on her right. They'd been talking excitedly up until they saw me coming down the stairs. Everyone's heads snapped up to me, and I caught sight of Karin smirking smugly to herself a bit before she turned to glance at me. She was proud as hell that she got into such a high ranking gang, wasn't she?

My eyes closed into a blink and I opened them again. I blinked a few more times and raised an eyebrow. "What the hell are you all staring at? Do I look like Naomi Campbell or Namie Amuro or BoA or someone like that?" They laughed. "Yeah, riiiiiiiiight." Sakura and Sakurambo spoke simultaneously and I glared at them. "Well, the good thing about having Sakurambo back as now I can unleash the utmost havoc on _two_ cherries. The bad thing, if I unleash everything she'll know all my moves." I sighed. "Fuck…and then Hinata's gonna get mad if I fuck up the house…so…it's a lose; lose situation for me." I sighed and crossed my arms and closed my eyes, letting the towel sit on my head as a turban.

I reached the first floor and by memory walked over to where Sakura and Sakurambo were at. I peaked down at them as they stared up at me. They both raised a pink eyebrow, and the same fucking eyebrow too. It would take time to get used to that again. I let a small smirk cross my features and their eyes narrowed. They jumped into a stance but it was too late.

DOUBLE BAM!

I smirked as they grabbed at their heads in pain. "Fucking shit that hurt!" They yelled simultaneously and I sighed. "It's a shame. You know you really need to quicken your reflexes because if you expect to help beat Orochimaru and his minions like that then you must be playin' yourself or something cuz – aaaaaaah! Shit! OW! You fucking hoes!"

They smirked down at me as my vision blurred and my hands shot up to my head in pain. "Dammit! I understand one of you punching me but getting two people to punch me and one has strength like Arnold Schwarzenegger. You know that wasn't really nice."

Both girls laughed. "That was funny." I crossed my arms in front of me and discreetly pulled out a kunai that was hidden in the top hem of my jeans. I fought down a smirk as I pulled it out and quickly chucked it at Sakura. She let out a small gasp as it scraped her cheek.

I grinned toothily. She glared down at me. I put my legs out and maintained my crossed arms. She stomped forward a couple steps. "Tenten…I will personally kill you now." I laughed. "Don't look at me. I didn't do it." She raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?" She stalked over to the knife that lay on the floor behind us and picked it up. She smirked slightly and my only thoughts could be described in these four words; oh fuck I'm screwed.

She quickly stomped back over and pushed the knife close to my face. "Then why the hell is there a 'T' scraped into it?" I shook my head in slight amusement as I thought of an excuse. "It could be Temari's." She shook her head. "Temari's behind me, and the kunai came from in front of me. It was you." I shrugged. "Yeah, it was me. Is there a problem?"

She dropped the knife and cracked her knuckles menacingly, her eyes glinting in anger. I raised an eyebrow in a smirk as she stalked forward. "You're gonna need a _real_ hospital this time because whatever damage I do won't be cured by me and trust it's gonna be a lot!" I kept my eyebrow raised. "Umm…okay…" I said it sarcastically just to get her mad and when she let out an infuriated scream and ran toward me, I dashed into the kitchen and shut the door behind me. I ducked quickly, and just in time. There was a loud BANG where my head was and through all the flying wood chips, I could see Sakura's fist poking around, her wrist a little scratched up but otherwise perfectly unharmed.

I laughed slightly as I opened the door and she swung in with it with a scream. She stopped it quickly as she caught hold of her footing. I strolled past her without so much as a glance as I let a smirk creep up onto my face. I slowly walked over to the couch. I could feel her glaring fiery holes into my head. I shrugged it off quickly and ignored it. Once I heard her retract her hand from the hole in the door and take a couple quick steps forward I snapped around and chucked three more kunai at her from my waist band. The kunai didn't graze her at all but they pinned her down to the door. I smirked as she struggled. I brought out another kunai from my pajamas hip hem.

With the small smirk still in place I sauntered over to her and pressed the kunai to her neck softly. "Now…I'll say what I want. If you give me what I want, I'll let you go. If you don't, you have to stay here." She raised a pink eyebrow. "Tenten, this isn't some FBI mission or anything because if it was we'd all be in jail for illegal possession of weapons, murder in the first degree, assault in the first degree, and underage driving.

With a grin I shook my head. "Nope, we'd be given some sort of reward for taking down Orochimaru and his henchmen." She sighed. "You're so stupid I swear it's not even funny." I rolled my eyes and continued. "Anyway…I want." The entire room fell dead silent as I stopped and Sakura listened nonchalantly, uncaringly.

I continued after a few minutes, feeling everyone's eyes on us. "I want…an apology."

Sakura's face shown confusion before she let out a blood curling scream. "YOU WHAT?! YOU MEAN YOU MAKE ME BREAK THE KITCHEN DOOR, NEARLY BREAKING MY KNUCKLES IN THE PROCESS AND THEN PIN ME TO THE SAME DOOR JUST SO YOU CAN GET A FUCKING APOLOGY! I'M SORRY YOU MOTHERFUCKING HOE BUT IT'S NOT GONNA HAPPEN! YOU BETTER BE APOLOGIZING TO _ME_ FOR _YOU _MAKING ME MAKE THIS MESS IN THE FUCKING FIRST PLACE! NOW YOU BETTER APOLOGIZE TO HINATA FOR…hey…what…WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THOSE FUCKING KNIVES! LEAVE THEM THERE! I'M WARNING YOU! THAT'S THE ONLY THING KEEPING ME FROM BEATING YOUR ASS INTO MUTILATION RIGHT NOW!"

I laughed at her. "Sakura, you know you couldn't mutilate me without feeling sorry about it later. After ten minutes of intense pain you'd mutilate back and put it into it's own form with all my bones fixed." She glared at me. "THE HELL I WON'T! YOU FUCKING BITCH AND YOU'RE NOT GETTING ANY APOLOGY EITHER!"

I grinned. "You already apologized." She froze and her face twisted into one of confusion. "What are you talking about?" I quoted her easily. "'I'm sorry you mother-fucking hoe.' Doesn't that ring any bells?" Her face fell for a second and she pursed her lips in thought and then her face fell again. "Oh fuck…" I smirked. "You're screwed…and for once not by Sasuke." She glared at me. "Oh…fuck you." I grinned. "Nah, I don't swing that way. I'm good." She rolled her eyes. "Forget it. I apologized. Now can I have my hit back." I sighed.

I did feel kinda guilty for making her go through all that. But then again her punches hurt like hell. But…it wasn't worth losing a best friend to anger as Sakurambo and Sakura had falsely shown each other. I blinked a couple times and thought about.

With a sigh I crossed my arms. "Fine but just don't hit me too – OWWWW!"

I crashed to the ground clutching at my head. The towel turban rolled of easily and my vision turned into an endless white. My hearing was cut off and all I felt was the sharp pain in my head. I let out a scream, I could feel it rumbling throughout my body, but I couldn't hear it. I was too absorbed in the pain.

I felt my breath hitch in my lungs and I struggled to breathe. "Shit!" I felt myself say. I slowly, numbly moved my hand over to my neck and felt my pulse. I had basic training. It was going a mile a minute. I grabbed at my hair with my free hand. I lifted up my other hand from my neck and pressed two fingers to my temple with slight pressure.

There was a numbingly painful feeling in which I got my senses back and then the pain in my head doubled. "SHIT! SAKURA YOU FUCKING BITCH!" I could hear her laugh. "Hmm?" I used my free hand to search the ground and as soon as I found it, I chucked it at her.

"HOLY SHIT!"

I didn't have time to smirk, my head hurt like hell and the pain only seemed to worsen with every passing second. I could hear the others screaming. Then I heard Ino scream a "MIND TRANSFER JUTSU."

There was a cold feeling soaring through me and the next minute I heard Ino scream from within me, as me, her voice mixing with mine. "FUCKING SHIT THAT HURTS!" We screamed at the same time. "RELEASE!"

The cold feeling slowly moved through me as her spiritual energy transferred out. I blinked the black splotches out of my eyes to catch a quick glimpse of Neji walking over to me before I closed my eyes in pain. There was a big hand on my head that I recognized immediately and then the pain was lessened greatly. I cracked my eyes open just a bit and looked straight up into Neji's pale silver eyes.

I blinked a couple times, seeing if the pain would return. I heard Sakura's voice reply. "Oh come on. You couldn't let me have my fun? It wasn't a deadly blow, I just hit her in a spot that would knock out her senses and hit it hard enough so that when she'd fix it, she'd feel the aftershock pain."

I fell back quickly and Neji caught me and placed me on his lap on the floor. I winced in pain and rubbed at my head. I slowly turned my aching head to glare at Sakura. She grinned and waved a peace sign in my face. Sakurambo walked over quickly and put her in a headlock. "Damn I missed this. I got her Tenten, don't worry!" She pulled Sakura into the kitchen by the headlock. There were a couple bangs of pots and pans falling and then a scream. However, since Sakura and Sakurambo both sounded pretty much the same I couldn't tell which one it was.

There were a few loud shouts and then a few more bangs and screams and then utter silence. I turned my attention to the door. A couple minutes later both girls came back in the room, both with a bloody nose. Bloody, but not broken. And both girls were grinning crazily. I winced as I imagined the pain they must be going through.

I shivered slightly and Neji pulled me closer to his chest, farther back on his lap. I didn't ignore his attempt to comfort my aching head so I leaned my head against his chest. He didn't care at all. As a matter of fact his arms tightened around me.

Sakura walked over to me and for the first time I caught sight of the Tylenol bottle in one hand and the glass of water in the other. She handed me both and I blinked up at her. "So what, now you wanna kill me?" She shook her head. "No, they're pain killers. Take a couple." I frowned. "So now you're introducing me to drug overdose?" She slapped her forehead and I smirked slightly. "Tenten, just take the fucking medicine! You're lucky I'm offering you something to kill the pain." I sighed and handed Sakura the bottle of Tylenol. She raised her eyebrow. "You're not taking it?"

I shook my head. "It's not that. I can't open the bottle without spilling the water." She sighed and rolled her eyes as she popped the cap off and spilled two pills out into her hand. Closing the pills into her palm with three fingers, she used her two free ones to close the cap tightly and place the container of pills on the table. She handed me both and I grabbed them slowly. I popped both into my mouth and drank some water, feeling the two medicated tablets slip down my throat.

I shivered as the ice cold water slid down with them and placed the glass on the table.

I turned my attention back to them. "What was all the screaming in the kitchen for?" They grinned identically. "Oh, that? A whole bunch of pots fell and me and Sakura were screaming and trying to pick them up." I raised my eyebrow. "Okay…then why do you guys have bloody noses?" Sakura spoke this time. "Well Saku-chan caught the good pot before it fell but it came down too fast so she stumbled and she hit me in the nose and I got pissed off and punched her in hers and then we started a quick fight but then we remembered what we were in there for."

I sighed. "Okay, fine whatever. Just go clean it up, I don't want Hinata stressing over it. And I don't wanna stress over anything because my head hurts." I rubbed the abused spot and there was a small satisfied glint in Sakura's eye that was reflected into Sakurambo's less satisfied face. Damn, that telepathy thing was just fucking creepy!

With a small sigh I twisted back into Neji and let my eyes shut against the aching of my head. I heard Sasuke speak out after a long pause in which Sakura and Sakurambo shared thoughts. "Sakura, you're arm's bleeding." She blinked and took a look at it and then blushed slightly. "Oh yeah! I forgot about that!" I blinked and looked back at her. She examined her arm slowly and turned to me. "Even when you can't feel a thing except touch you can hit your target. Luckily I move because I'm pretty damn sure that with the force you put into that kunai you could've ripped my arm off."

I blinked and let a small smirk come to my face. "Heh, heh…Sakura, you better sleep with one eye open tonight…" She blinked and glared at me. "You better hope you know how to sleep with both eyes open because I swear if you even _think_ about waking me up I will personally plan and carry out your murder." I blinked. "And how do you plan on doing that without waking up everyone else?" She grinned psychotically, but fakely, as a joke. "You forget that I'm a medic." I blinked. Oh crap.

"Oh fuck, I'm screwed." She let out a small laugh and turned to climb the stairs. "Well, I'd love to stay and chat but I've gotta go check on Lee. And then I have to go take a shower.

Sakurambo was next to her in an instant. "How about _I _go check on Lee and you go shower?" Sakura blinked and then slowly a small smirk overcame her face, a small malicious glint in her eye. "Fine then, but once I'm done with my shower I'll do a full analysis on the injury that the bullet left him with."

Sakurambo nodded and both girls walked up the stairs side by side, and since they were in the shadows, if it weren't for the clothes and hair length, I would've confused them.

I sighed and curled up in Neji's lap. He pulled me to him and slowly stood up, pulling me up with him. He walked me over to the couch and sat me on top of his lap. I leaned back against his chest comfortably and closed my eyes. A little nap after a blow to the head wasn't a good idea. Potentially falling asleep could shut down the brain and therefore you'd die. I wasn't a science wiz, but I knew it was possible.

Either way, I couldn't fight the drowsiness that overcame me. I rubbed my eyes constantly but it was hard keeping awake.

After what seemed like hours but really was only about half an hour, the medicine came into affect and I fell asleep like a baby, leaning on Neji's chest.

**  
Sakurambo  
**I blinked as I reached the top of the stairs and I turned to Sakura. She smirked at me and quickly pulled me over to one of the rooms by the arm. I pulled against it but she had a strong grip so she pulled me along with ease. As soon as we had entered the room she dropped my arm and shut the door behind her.

"Do you like Lee?" I blinked and blushed. I thought he was pretty adorable when I first saw him…but…I didn't…_like _him…although I couldn't shake the small feeling of attraction as I thought of him. "N-no." Damn my stutter. She smirked slightly. "Yeah, you do. Don't forget twin telepathy." I rolled my eyes and she continued. "Chances are he'll like you back. Truth be told, he likes me…but I don't like him in that way. He's more so my brother. I think you'd make a cute match for him though!"

I blushed a little darker and Sakura smiled warmly at me. She placed a hand on my shoulder. "Go for it!" She pulled open the door silently and pushed me out into the hallway. She poked her head out of the room. "It's that way." She pointed down the hall to another door a few meters away. I nodded and slowly made my way down the hall to the room Lee was in. I blinked and stared at the door. My heartbeat accelerated to a crazy racing beat. I gulped down in nervousness and slowly brought my hand to the knob, closing my fingers around it.

With a small, calming breath, I turned the knob and walked into the room. I stepped inside and looked around at the daylight-lit room. There were three beds and a bedside table next to each, one with nail polish and cosmetics, another with medical supplies, and another with little sensu. I blinked and smiled, shaking my head. It was obvious the three that shared this room.

I took a couple more steps into the room and silently closed the door behind me.

I turned and looked back toward the furniture. On the middle bed, there was a lump under the blanket and Lee's face was opposite the ceiling as he lay unmoving on the bed. Looking to m left and my right for a quick second, I snuck forward and slowly made my way to his bed. Stopping a few centimeters from it I smiled at his face.

It was scratched and there were a couple bruises on his cheeks but otherwise his face was fine. I took in his bushy eyebrows and jet black bowl-cut and smiled slightly. He wasn't as ugly as Ami had led everyone to believe. He was actually very cute.

He was actually pretty entrancing. I was suddenly caught up in his features. His round, peach face and his cute little nose. His calmed features and slowly opening eyes. I didn't take time to care that he was waking up, hell I barely noticed. I was too caught up taking him in. I didn't realize he'd been watching me until he spoke.

"S-Sakura-ch-chan?" I blinked out of my reverie and blushed lightly. He frowned and slowly slid up into a sitting position, grunting in pain. "Sakura? Did you put on contacts or is it just me?" I smiled softly and shook my head, bringing my hands to my chest out of habit. "No, I'm Sakura's old friend, Sakurambo…and sadly, your sniper. I didn't mean to hit you in the neck, I meant to get you in the shoulder, a place perfectly curable…but I kinda lost my balance and the bullet went flying toward you."

I set my eyes downcast sadly. I'd tried to miss everyone…I'd never planned on actually hitting someone. I blinked quickly and looked back up to see a smile on his face. "Well it is no problem. I will be fine." He tried to turn to get off the bed and winced. I stepped forward and put my hands out in front of him. "Hey! Don't do that, you'll get hurt!"

He grinned and shook his head, but a look of pain crossed his face as he did that as well. I sighed. "Lay back down. Sakura's in the shower. She'll take a look at you as soon as she's done." He tried to nod but he winced and just settled with an 'okay'. I watched him as he slowly lay back down. The pain was evident in his eyes but he was struggling to not let out a couple yells. I could tell.

I took a seat on the edge of the bed as soon as he was comfortable and smiled at him. "So Lee, how old are you?" He smiled a little. "I am fifteen." I blinked. "Really?" He nodded. "I thought you were like fourteen." He grinned. "That is the power of youth coursing through me!" I let out a little laugh at that. He seemed energetic. He let out a little chuckle and spoke again. "So Sakurambo, how old are _you_?" I smiled. "I'm fourteen." He blinked. "You know, you remind me a lot of Sakura-chan." I nodded. "I know, I get that a lot. I consider her my sister from another mister if you get what I mean. She's like my long lost non-related-to-me identical twin." He smiled. "I see…"

It grew silent for a little while, but it was comfortable, not all nervous and scary like it would usually have been with Orochimaru. There was a difference. Lee was kind and Orochimaru was dead out evil with a black soul and a heartless shell of a body.

I remember I'd asked him what he was really planning…I got the full explanation…

_I turned the familiar corner into the more so familiar room where I knew he would be sitting in his chair, overlooking on the main computers everything for his plan so far. With a chuckle he signaled me to near him and I didn't hesitate in doing so. I knew full well that any disobedience could easily cost me my life._

_He brought out an arm to point to a chair right next to his lazily. "Sit." He commanded. I quickly did as told. "You needed to speak to me, Orochimaru-sama?" He didn't look at me, just kept typing away on his huge computer. "Yes, I needed to have a word with you, Sakurambo." He still didn't look at me._

_I blinked a few times. "About what, sir?" There was a long pause in which he typed away almost noiselessly before he spoke again. "About the alliance with the Professionals and Hakai." I fought back a small laugh at the gang names and it didn't go unnoticed by Orochimaru. "What is so funny?" I blinked and my small smile retreated quickly, my façade coming up. "Oh nothing. It's just…they are so weak that the names don't particularly suit them well. The Pros should be short for the Prostitutes and Hakai? More like Hakujaku. _

_A small smirk crossed his face and he let out a small, cold laugh. "Yes, I know. They may be whores and they may be weak but they are the opening to my plan. Without them opening it up and asking us for assistance, I wouldn't be able to achieve my _real_ goal." I blinked as those words sunk in. _

"_Orochimaru-sama…what do you mean by your _real_ goal?" He glanced at me and there was a curse in his eyes, and he knew he let too much escape. And then a small senile smile adorned his face. Well, you have been with me for quite some time now, so I suppose I can tell you. I plan to take over all of Japan." I blinked and fought down a glare and the urge to tell him it wasn't going to happen. I hid my anger well as I spoke. "And how do you plan on doing that?" His smile turned into a grin. "Money and power. And I intend to make it mine for many years to come. Give me about another century with it."_

_My eyes widened at that. "But, sir…that's not possible. You're already fifty! No person has yet lived up to more than one hundred and twenty. How are you going to-?" He cut me off a little cockily. "Kabuto and his medical scientists are studying through everything to create vaccinations that'll keep me going." I shook my head in disbelief. "But what if the plan should not succeed?"_

_A smirk crossed his face again. "The plan is flawless…there will be no failures." I sighed. "And what if someone finds out about these plans and tries to stop it." His smirk only widened as he read me. He was looking straight into my eyes with his own snakelike ones. They scared the bejeebers out of me but I couldn't look away. _

_After a few moments he finally replied. There was a crazy edge as he did, as well as a threatening one with his words. "They'll die." And with that he let a small cold laugh escape as he turned back to his computer to type.  
_

I jumped at the memory. Shit! He knew that I was spying on him, didn't he? Shit! Shit! Shit! Fuck! Damn! Lee blinked at me. "W…what is wrong?"

I shook my head. "Shit! Shit! Shit! How did I miss that! It was so fucking obvious! Damn it! What the hell! Shit!" I jumped up from my spot on the bed and ran down the stairs to the living room. Everyone's eyes shot to me as I reached the first floor.

"Tenten!" She jolted awake from Neji's lap on the sofa and glared at me. "What the hell do you want?" I shook my head. "Fuck! Orochimaru knows I was spying!" She sat up and rubbed an eye. "Well no shit. Ami's dick-headed self probably told him by now so of course he must know." I shook my head.

"No, no, no! I mean he's known for the longest! He's known for a while now!" At this she stiffened and stopped rubbing her eye. "Sakurambo, what the hell are you saying?" I fisted my hands in my hair. "Fucking shit I'm saying he's always known that you've been hell-bent on destroying his plans and killing him!" "Which means that he'll be doubly prepared for us when we come." I nodded as she finished for me. She pursed her lips and put a finger to her chin. "Shit, we have a problem now…don't we…" I nodded. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Dammit! Well that's just fucking great, now we have to train twice as fucking hard for these mother-fuckers so that they don't whoop our asses!" I nodded.

"And there's more detail to his plan than you think." She raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" I sighed. "He's searching for scientific ways to immortality or something close to it. He wants to live like a turtle; he wants to be over a hundred and fifty years old." I bit my lip. "This is difficult…there's no doubt in my mind that he's picked up a way but it's just…I don't know."

Tenten gazed at me for a short second and then turned her gaze downward until she turned to look up at Neji. He stared back at her and she threw her head in her hands for a few minutes. There was a silence. We could all practically feel the brainwaves radiating from Tenten's head. There was a small growl and she lifted her head. "I can't think of shit to do…" I sighed as she crossed her arms over her chest.

She sighed and then she let out a small laugh, which left a small smirk adorning her flawless face. "What?" Her smirk widened. "This just got interesting…"

* * *

_This just got interesting, neh? ;]_

I know I know, hold the applause! lmfaoo *crickets* yeah screw yah too! lmfaoo wow I feel silly today anyways, yay! I finally uploaded! Lemme see a typed 'whoot whoot!'

Anyways, this chapter was sure a page-turner...wasn't it? Yes, yes it was! No more wondering! Kunai has two new members...or rather one new member and an old rejoined member...anyway two more people are in the gang! And they're both shockers!

And yes, I hinted the reason behind Sakurambo's creation in this story, and no it's not to be a part of the girls' angsty childhood... it's more so for a better reason...see if you can pick it up...oh wait...crap...I just realized I had it listed up there lmfaoo. Sakura blew her spot lolx.

Hakai - Destruction  
Hakujaku - Weak

Yay! Lolx

So lemme leave this right here before I ramble [too late :-/]

Naruto (c) Masashi Kishimoto-sama

_Thanks to all who read and review please!_


	19. Element

**Chapter Nineteen**

**Element**

_Life's a game but it's not fair  
__I break the rules so I don't care  
__So I keep doing my own thing  
walking tall against the rain_

_Victory's within the mile  
__Almost there don't give up now  
__Only thing that's on my mind  
__Is who's gon' run this town tonight – Jay-z: Run This Town [Feat. Rihanna and Kanye West]_

----

He shot up, a small scream escaping as he did so. He closed his mouth to remain silent as everyone else slept silently in the living room, the cherry blossom right next to him, looking adorable in his view. He breathed heavily to calm himself, to burn away the terrible replay of his past. With a small sigh he ran his fingers through his hair and another quick memory passed by that sent his entire past flashing before him all over again.

He threw his head in his hands, his thoughts wild. The past was blazing through his mind, deepening the scarring ruts it had left behind just a few years ago. It cut deeper and he could imagine the cuts beginning to bleed into his thoughts all over again.

The offer that he'd been given…it sounded too good to pass up…he would…have to do it…if he wanted to get his revenge…

He closed his eyes against his cold hands, feeling that one specific memory come back to him…

_He stared into the glittery lake as he sat on the pier, his thoughts drifting to his family…his now __**deceased **__family._

_He fought back the tears that had filled up his eyes in the time he'd been staring at the lake. He wiped at his eyes quickly and placed his hand back at his sides. _

_Slowly his thoughts moved on to the one man that'd been plaguing his mind for the last few weeks now. __"Itachi…" __He let out a furious growl and tossed a nearby stone into the water. He glared at the spot where the rock plopped into the water, leaving little liquid ringlets. _

_He glared at his own reflection. __**I couldn't save them…I was too weak…**_

_In disappointment his glare deepened at himself._

Drowned in his own thoughts he threw himself in the water. It rushed past him as he slowly drifted downward with the current. He opened his eyes, holding his breath.

_**I will become stronger…I will avenge them…I **__**will **__**kill you…**_

_**ITACHI!**_

He balled his hand into a fist and let it slam down onto the floor next to him, close enough for the sleeping beauty next to him to shoot up into a sitting position, waking up immediately. She let out a gasp and turned her attention to the boy next to her. Her expression grew worried as she caught sight of the look in his eye.

She instinctively grabbed at his shirt and leaned forward. "Are you okay?" She whispered to him softly. He hesitated…should he tell her? He stared straight into her emerald green orbs that held so much care and worry…

All that care and worry for _him_…

No. He couldn't do it, not so much to save himself, but more so to her. He cared much too deeply for her.

Slowly, he nodded. "I'm fine." He lied. The girl next to him didn't seem convinced. "You're lying…" He glared at her and removed her hands from his shirt. "I'm _fine_." He repeated himself, putting more emphasis on it. She still seemed unconvinced. "Sasuke are…" She bit her lip. "It's that thing with Orochimaru, isn't it?"

She was good, but he wouldn't admit that. He shook his head. "Sakura, I said I'm fine."

Her tears brimmed with eyes. "That's a lie…you're thinking of leaving to go with him, aren't you?" Sasuke's eyes widened for only a short fraction of a second before quickly returning to normal size. "Sakura." She threw herself on him. "S-Sasuke…please…d-don't do it." A few tears spilled over as she tightened her hold on him. He hesitantly hugged her back, but he leaned his head on her shoulder.

She sniffled softly. "Sasuke…" He didn't let her finish. He placed his lips on hers. It was intended for only a second but it lasted much longer. They tightened their holds on each other as they ran their tongues together.

He pulled back quickly though, to prevent anything more from happening. "Go to sleep." He said. She frowned, her lip out in a pout. "Sasuke…" He laid himself back down on the floor comfortably and pulled her down next to him. "I said go to sleep."

She sighed and got a little closer to him. "Fine…"

And she did, in his arms, with a small pout adorning her lips. "Goodnight." She mumbled sadly, still unconvinced. He paused and stared straight into her beautiful green eyes for a moment before closing his own onyx ones and falling into an uneasy sleep, the girl next to him doing the same.

----

**Sakura**

It seemed like I was the first one awake, not that I minded that. It wasn't so much of a surprise. I'd been having a bad dream after all…

I blinked to wipe the bad images of Sasuke's betrayal out of my head. I didn't need and wasn't going to think about that. With a small yawn that I easily muffled I sat up and rubbed my eyes to get the sleep out of them.

Once I blinked a few times to remove the black splotches and then narrowed them to get a better focus, making sure all images came in at precise sharpness before I blinked my eyes fully open. "What the hell are you doing, some sort of eye exercises?"

I visibly jumped and turned to look to my right to see Sasuke staring at me. I blushed slightly. "Umm…no…" He raised an eyebrow and a smirk adorned his cute boyish face. "Sure." I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. "And what the hell are you doing up so early? It's only…" I blinked and looked around the room. I could see the sunshine peeking in through the windows and I could feel the small heat it brought into the house, but I didn't know what time it was.

"What time is it?" I said, turning back to look at him. He smirked. "Exactly." With a shrug I ignored the last remark. "No but, really, what are you doing awake so early?"

He looked away. "I couldn't sleep." I raised an eyebrow. "So…you woke up this early, possibly earlier, to stay awake all that time?" He nodded, still not facing me. I crossed my arms. "Did you…have a bad dream or something?" There was a long pause.

Finally he turned to me. "What are _you_ doing up so early?" I shrugged. "I don't know…but you didn't answer my question." He frowned. "Well, if you don't know why you're awake then I guess I don't know either."

A frown found its way to my features. "Oh, so it's going to be like that, then? Then I don't know if I like you all that much." There was a double meaning in my words. Judging by the surprised look in his eyes that showed what his emotionless face didn't, I was guessing he caught it. "Okay then…I'm not sure if I like you all that much either." I maintained my crossed arms. "Yeah, okay Sasuke. You know very well that you like me."

There was a short pause in which a small smirk crept onto his face. "Yeah, okay…then if I like you, you must _love _me." There was slight sarcasm but other than that it seemed that he was serious.

I fought a blush. "Yeah, okay. Stop playing yourself Sasuke." I let out a small, quiet laugh, but it was a really big fake. It was a fake because…

He didn't know how right he was.

----

I was in the kitchen, my hair untangled, my teeth brushed, and 'tanks' emptied. I placed my face in my hand and rested my elbow on the table boredly. Sasuke was sitting next to me, looking as emotionless as ever although he did look bored as well.

I let a small sigh escape. "I can't wait till the girls are awake. At least there'll be some excitement and fights in the house." I felt Sasuke's gaze land on me for a couple moments before he turned it back to the wall. I sucked my teeth and placed my head down into my arms on the table. This was boring. And I was hungry, and I couldn't cook as well as Hinata, and I didn't have the patience to either.

Damn it this was boring.

There was a long silence in which there was a lot of breathing and…well…silence and no talking…that was just about it. There was a slight _click _from the direction of the door and I turned to see Hinata and Naruto walking in, Naruto in the middle of a random sentence, as usual.

"- and Sakura woke up…I wonder where they're at." Hinata let out a small giggle. "I think I-I found them." She pointed toward us and I waved with a small smile. "Good morning. About time someone woke up."

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "It's Saturday." I rolled my eyes. "Okay. And what right does that give you to wake up this late?" He smirked. "All the right." I crossed my arms. "Yeah, my ass."

He didn't seem offended. He just let out a small, slightly loud laugh as Hinata made her way over to the refrigerator to begin some pancakes.

I turned to Sasuke and tapped his shoulder lightly. His gaze moved over to me but his body faced the wall. "Why and how the hell are you so quiet?" He blinked and this time he brought his full body to face me. "I'm quiet because I don't like to talk. Is that so hard to understand?" I pursed my lips. "Umm…yes…?" He shook his head. "Did you take your ADD medication this morning?" I glared. "I don't take meds for ADD. But I did forget to take my muscle spasm pills." I punched him upside the head for emphasis. "Oops! Looks like I should go take them!"

I let out a laugh and jumped up from my chair once I saw the threatening glare he gave me. I darted out into the backyard, knowing full well that he was right behind me, seething in anger.

I took a sharp turn and ran behind the tree, but I wasn't intending on staying for long. Once I took a step to leave there was the sound of the crunch of grass behind me.

"Boo." I jumped in complete surprise at his voice behind me. I could hear the smirk in his voice when he said it. I turned around in a one-eighty and let out a small scream. His face was only just a few centimeters away from my face. "Gotcha." I blushed deep red at the close proximity. His smirk only widened at that. "What? Are you scared I'm gonna kill you or something?"

My blush only brightened as I stepped back into the tree. He only stepped forward until his body was pressed against mine. A gusty wind rushed by, but he seemed unaffected. I, on the other hand, winced from the low temperature.

He only grew closer, the psychotic look in his eye growing larger. "Sakura…" I shivered at the sound of my name, in fear. "Guess what's going to happen to you for hitting me."

I slid down the tree slowly only to have him crouch down in front of me. "You can't get away from me." I knew it was the truth. He smirked as he balled his hands into fists and brought it back. I closed my eyes, preparing myself for the impact.

Instead of a few knuckles meeting my face or head, I felt a pair of soft warm lips press themselves against the skin of my forehead. My eyes opened all on their own and immediately widened as I looked up to see Sasuke kissing my forehead.

He pulled back quickly and smirked at me as I blushed deep red. "Gotcha." He repeated himself. I shot up to stand up again and glared at him. "That's not funny! I was scared for my life you bastard!" He smirked up at me. "That was the whole point."

I crossed my arms. "So then why the hell did you do that?" He shrugged. "You have a big forehead. I thought it was swollen, and kisses always make wounds better." My eyes widened. "Oh hell and no!" I brought my fist down but he dodged it a lot easier than the first one. I glared at him and aimed a kick toward his face. He easily dodged it too. I bit my lip and attempted to punch him in the face. He tried to block it but it was too strong, so in result he got thrown back a couple steps.

"Shit!" I didn't smirk at all. I was too angry to celebrate that I'd hit him. I stomped forward slowly, seething. I heard Hinata call out to us. "Sakura! P-p-please d-don't commit m-m-murder in the backyard! O-our neighbors w-w-will get suspicious of us!" I completely ignored her, for once, and continued to stomp heavily toward the cute cocky bastard in front of me.

He was standing, glaring back at me as I inched closer. I brought up the sleeves of my shirt and picked up the pace a little. As soon as I was in kicking distance I brought back my leg and aimed it straight for the spot where the sun don't shine.

With a quick move, I swung it back forward. Right before it reached the spot, there was a hand pushing my leg back, and then a numbing feeling in my leg. The spare hand of the person was pushing Sasuke back.

At this point, I could only think of two people with speed like that, that could easily knock out my nervous system. I turned my head and looked at Hinata. Her bangs covered her eyes, making her look scary, but she was in her stance, her hands holding us back away from each other.

Slowly, very slowly, she lifted her head up to stare at the both of us, and I couldn't help but grow a little scared. When Hinata got mad, it wasn't pretty. Well she still looked cute but the thing was; it usually included a hell of a lot of fighting.

"Sakura…Sasuke…didn't I tell you to stop fighting?" Her voice sounded fierce but it was still that soft wind-chime-like voice. She pushed my leg back and pushed Sasuke back with equal force. I lost my balance for a quick minute before I regained it and stared in horror at her. She switched back and forth, staring at Sasuke and then turning to stare at me…no…not stare…_glare_ at us.

She crossed her arms in disapproval. "I don't like to be disrespected and disregarded. I think it's rude. Sasuke-." She rounded on him. "You should know better than to do such things to Sakura considering her temper. And you-!" She turned to me and pointed at me. "You really need to learn how to control your anger. I told you I didn't want anyone dead in the backyard…" I blinked and raised my hand like an innocent child. "What?"

Terror slowly flowed through me as I saw cute little Hinata spazzing out in rage. "Umm…how about at the park or on a mountain or something…can I kill him there?" She shook her head. "No! That's impolite and not very nice." I crossed my arms and pouted and her face lightened immediately. "Umm…but…you can beat him up if you like."

Sasuke frowned. "Don't talk about me in third person if I'm right here!" I let out a small giggle with Hinata. She bowed with a small smile still on her face. "Okay, I apologize." She let out a small giggle again before returning her posture and walking back into the kitchen. "Well, we can all agree that this morning has been creepily random."

He nodded, looking at me. "If only Lee were awake to be able to…HOLY SHIT LEE!"

I turned and darted back into the house, blurring past Hinata and Naruto in the kitchen as they cooked and making my way up the stairs at the speed of light. I pushed open the door to see Lee asleep.

Gasping in heavy breaths to regain my energy, I walked over to him and shook him lightly. "Lee…wake…up…come on…so I can…see the after-affects…of the…bullet." I wheezed in a breath and he woke up slowly. "Sa-Sakurambo-chan?" I shook my head and smiled. "No, this time it's Sakura." He smiled. "I get you two confused a little too much." I let loose a small, breathless laugh. "It's okay, now, I'm going check what your injuries are. I'm gonna have to flip you over though."

He tried to nod but he winced in pain as he did, so I just put up a hand to stop him, and he complied. I carefully grabbed his upper-arms and helped him sit up. He had no shirt on, which was better because I didn't have to waste time pulling it off to be able to inspect him. "The rest, you can do from here, right?" "Yes." With that he turned around and laid down on his stomach. I sighed and reached onto the table next to him and reached for my gloves. Instead, I felt a soft substance…hair…

I let out a small scream and shot around, grabbing at my chest to see Sakurambo asleep with her head on the table and her body on the floor. "How the hell did I not notice that?" She stuck her middle finger up at me as she let her eyes open slowly. "Why'd you have to go and wake me? I was having a nice dream until you screamed." I crossed my arms. "Well if you don't want to find out what Lee's diagnosis is then get the hell out and sleep somewhere else. She shot up immediately. "The…diagnosis? You're doing that now?"

I nodded and she stood up quickly and bolted out the room, leaving the words "I'm gonna go brush my teeth" behind her. I rolled my eyes, smiling and turned back to Lee. He was smiling into the pillow. "She sure is something, is she not?" I laughed. "Yeah, Lee…she's _something_ alright."

He let out a small laugh as I turned and pulled on my black gloves. I readied all of my medical equipment before turning back to him and beginning to gently nudge my fingers into his mid-back, looking for any bone-damage that could've been caused by the impact of the bullet.

Slowly, I made my way up, inspecting every nook and cranny of his vertebral column. I moved up to the next vertebra and felt around that bone. Nothing. With a small sigh I moved up to the next one and felt around again. There was still nothing. Good. Everything was fine.

I moved up another vertebra and he let out a small yelp in pain. I paused and felt around the bone. There was a slight indentation from what I could feel. He gasped out in pain as I continued. "Sorry Lee but I have to do it."

Reaching back over to my bedside table I grabbed the Medical Examiner's style x-ray vision glasses that Hinata had made for me for last Christmas [I'd thrown a party when I'd gotten them]. I pulled them on quickly and flipped on the switch, watching as all the skin melted away and his bones came into view. I inspected the vertebral column from the point of which I started and slowly made my way up the bone.

At the sight of the bone I'd just felt, I froze. Obviously, Lee felt me go rigid because without hesitation he asked; "What is wrong?" I bit my lip. "Umm…I'm sorry to say this Lee but…you should probably see a professional doctor for this." He blinked. "Eh, what? Why?" I shook my head. "You've got a chipped bone in your vertebral column…and the operation that takes place to undo that is really hard to conduct with someone who's only been studying medical science for the past six years. And what's even more is I can even see traces of your shoulder bone around here."

He winced in slight pain as I placed my finger right above the bone. "This is it. The bullet's after affects got you right here." He lifted a shoulder to point to his neck but I could hear him yelp. "That was the chipped shoulder by the way." "I can see that." His voice was hoarse in pain but steadily, he lifted his other hand and pointed to the back of his neck. "Then why does my neck hurt?" I glanced into it, inspecting the bone. Pressing one particular button near my right eye, I switched the views to inspect the muscles.

"Lee, what do you feel when you try to nod?" He spoke into the pillow. "Pain, like if something is loose on the inside, I do not know. It gets all numb and stiff and I can not shake or nod my head without pain." I sighed. "And do you know why?" "No, I do not."

I pressed lightly against his pressure point and I could see him wince from the corner of my eye. "You've got a torn muscle here too. It's very small but even that hurts like a mother-fucker. That I can fix, but your vertebral bone fractures and breaks will have to be taken care of by another professional."

It disappointed me that I couldn't do the job. I was really great at Medical Science, but even I couldn't do that job. I couldn't take that risk. It would leave his very life in my hands and I didn't want to take that chance. There was a high risk of death with the operation, and there was no way that he could deal with all the pain the operation brought.

He sighed. "But what other professional will actually take the time to cure a gang member and not turn him into the authorities?" I shrugged. "I don't know Lee…but I can't do that operation. It takes too much time, and it's much too hard for me to do…" He sighed. "Do you know of anyone?"

I shook my head sadly, turning off the goggles and removing them from my head before placing them back on the table. "I don't. I'm sorry…maybe it's best if…you…quit this…this fighting job. You're pretty smart; you can be an intelligence collector." His reply came immediately. "No! Sakura I promised you that I would protect you with my life. I intend on keeping that promise." I shook my head. "I'm sorry Lee, but…it's for the best." He rebuttaled easily. "No, the operation is for the best." "No it's not Lee!" "It is for my health. Once I am healthy, I can help you all take Orochimaru down!" I shook my head. "No! Lee look, find someone to do the operation, but I'm not doing it!"

"Why not?"

"BECAUSE IT'S TOO DAMN RISKY AND I'M NOT TAKING THE CHANCE OF KILLING YOU!"

He froze as hot tears rolled down my face. There was silence in the entire house. There were footsteps outside the room and in just a few seconds Sakurambo had pushed through the door and shut it behind her, running over to us immediately.

Seeing my tears she placed her arm around my shoulders. I opened my mouth to speak, but I couldn't force anything out. I closed my eyes, just letting the tears fall, and looked down at the floor. I couldn't do it. I didn't want to do it, not for my sake, but for his. "I…I don't want to be the one responsible for taking the one person that can make Sakurambo happy…"

They both remained frozen next to me. "And I don't want to be the one to kill the guy that's become like a brother to me…" There was a pregnant pause. No one spoke, everyone was lost in their own thoughts, and I knew it.

I could feel mine swirling in my head. Pictures of Lee dying and me there, trying to keep him alive.

_All the blood pouring out of his body, and all the tears dripping onto the floor, making huge puddles. I could see Ino in the corner crying, screaming out orders. "Sakura, don't let him die! DON'T LET HIM DIE!" I was just shaking my head and screaming back._

"_I'm trying! I'm trying! Ino, help me!"_

There was a bang and Sakurambo darted into the room and threatened to throw herself on Lee. Ino shot up and pulled her back.

"_Saku-chan, no! It's okay, she's going to keep him alive."_

I shook my head. "Ino let her…" Ino shook her head. "No Sakura, help him! Keep him alive." I shook my head again.

"_I can't dammit…he's…he's already gone!" At this Sakurambo thrashed against her and I could see Ino struggling to keep her hold on her, although the glinting tears falling from all three pairs of eyes in the room was inevitable._

"_Just…let her go…" And without hesitation Ino let her arms free and Sakurambo threw herself on him. "Lee!"_

_And she cried. She cried, and cried, and cried. The blood stopped flowing from his back and even though she had her arms around his neck she was covered in his blood. And she cried her heart out, letting all the pain out as it came by the waterfalls. "Lee!"_my _fault he was dead…I couldn't save him despite my tries…I just couldn't…if only I'd been better at medical science I might have been able to save him but-_

Feeling the compression in my chest I slid down to the floor against the wall and threw my face in my hands and just cried. Utter disappointment and grief was in me. I couldn't bear it. It was

"Sakura!"

I snapped out of my short day-nightmare, eyes wide and brimming with even more tears. "What…" Sakurambo sighed and placed her head against mine, and I could feel her tears coming down and mixing with my own. "Don't do the operation. We'll…we'll find someone else to do it…someone that has had experience with it…" She let out a small sob. "We'll get someone to cure him."

I shook my head. "You could be the greatest doctor in the world but the chances of survival in the operation remain the same." She brought her other arm around me into a hug. "And what are those chances."

I bit my lip. "Fifty, fifty."

**Temari**

I groaned as I heard Sakura's shrill voice in a slurred voice. Why the hell did she have to wake me up? That bitch was going to pay!

…

After I get a little more sleep…

From upstairs I could hear the sound of crying and the faint call of "Sakura" before it fell semi-silent again, other than the muffled sounds of their conversation. With I sigh, I realized I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep so I sat up and rubbed my eye. I yawned, muffling it slightly with my hand and stopped rubbing my eye. I let both drop onto my lap lazily and groaned. Next to me, Shikamaru grunted and slowly, his eyes opened. He looked up at me from his laying down position and sighed. "You couldn't let me sleep peacefully. Huh?" I rolled my eyes. "FYI mister Know it all, I was woken up by Sakura's screaming in that shrill voice of hers." He shrugged. "I don't care, you still woke me up."

I rolled my eyes." You're fucking hopeless." He shrugged. "Doesn't bother me all that much." Again, I rolled my eyes. "You're a dumb ass." "with an IQ of over two hundred. Yeah, I am a real idiot, aren't I?" "You know, I could do without your heavy sarcasm in the morning." He smirked. " why? Does it confuse you?" I glared at him. From over in the corner Ino spoke. "Can you guys shut the fuck up? Geer, you guys sound married already." I fought down a blush. She simply went right back to sleep as I glared at her. "Ino, fuck you." She shook her head sleepily. "No thanks, I'll gladly take a boy over you."

I slapped my forehead and sighed. Next to me, Shikamaru smirked. "Can I assist you with that?" I let my own smirk spread. "Yes, you may." And with that, I slapped him in the forehead. "Your assistance was much appreciated. You just helped me relieve some stress." I let out a small laugh and he rolled his eyes lazily." Yeah, because that was hilarious." I grinned. "It was to me because I got to see you suffer physically." He shook his head. "Don't flatter yourself. "Your hits don't hurt." I glared at him. "Fuck you! Your hits don't hurt either!" There was a groan From where Ino was sleeping with Kiba. "Shut the hell up and let me sleep dammit !"

Another roll of the eyes." Shut up and keep on sleeping with Kiba, Pig." There was a cold sensation in my body and I gasped. It lingered near my spirit, my soul before it slipped into my mind. Dammit who knew She could transfer so quickly when she was inspired? There was a chilling feeling in my spine that sent me into a fit of shivers. "Sh-shit! "There was a small, mean laugh in the back of my head that I could easily recognize as Ino's. There was a difference. When she laughed, it was usually sweet, never at all scary. This was the exact opposite of that laugh. This one was colder, ruder, and a hell of a lot more evil-sounding.

With another racing through my spine I realized if was a psychotic laugh. But it wasn't just any laugh. It was the laugh she used whenever she was going to send anyone into permanent dementia or hysteria. The only words I could think of with her mental invasion were the following:

Oh fuck I'm screwed...

I was scared suddenly. She'd tried it on Sakura and look at how Sakura ended up … no laughs? Come on, that was a joke. You're supposed to laugh… well anyway: back to the story.

"Temari …"Her voice was close to unrecognizable so much so that it was a miracle I could tell it was her. Scared, but –holding my ground, I replied. "What?!" there was a small laugh that rang in my mind loudly, leaving me paralyzed with fear for a second.

I drew a heavy breath, just barely feeling the perspiration run down my face as my senses numbed with my body. My vision blurred slightly and I could feel her spirit overtaking my own. The numb feeling only greatened, ironically enough, with the more soul she overtook. I grew tired as she finally overtook my body. The transfer itself was quick, but the actual takeover was slow… well at least that's how it was with me.

There was a tension in my body, one that was foreign and unrecognizable, as her voice had been. Another shiver coursed through me and the cold of the soul and spirit she'd transferred into my body was making it even worse. She laughed crazily again and I grit my teeth in a nearly useless attempt at keeping my sanity. "Temari, didn't I tell you to shut the fuck up and let me sleep in peace?" she spoke sweetly. Too sweetly. Letting a gulp escape, I replied. "Yeah. But instead of making me shut up, why didn't you drag Kiba up to your room with you?" She groaned." Because even in my deep sleep you can hear Saki, Saku, and Lee's tear-fest in the room and that would annoy the shit out of me." I laughed from within my body. "You're hilarious, Ino." I could feel her rolling her eyes at me. "You're not off the hook, Temari." With a sigh, I said, "A girl can only try."

Again, there was a tension, only this time it was a lot stronger, or rather tighter. I winced as I felt myself grow stiff and rigid, both physically and mentally. The cold of Ino's spirit blasted through my own and I felt a great sense of unconsciousness in my state of subconsciousness.

My eyes closed of their own accord and I struggled to open them up. When I finally did, I watched as my breath bubbled before me, as if I were drifting under water. On that note, my hair raised and floated above my head, drifting upward with some unknown upper-pressure. It was only working on my hair and clothes, however my body itself remained unaffected. I took in another breath and I could just vaguely make out the image of the dark water being suctioned into my ventilation system. _'Oh shit…'_

I waited for the inescapable water in my lungs, closing my eyes in expectancy of the feeling of drowning in my own mind, however, it never came. Instead, with that one breath, I felt rejuvenated, as if I'd sucked in air rather than murky-looking, midnight-like water. I raised an eyebrow in confusion and breathed out into the space in front of me.

The current changed ever so slightly and the water started flowing against my back rather than against my front. My hair was flowing along the sides of my fair, loose and short, falling just past my shoulders, sandy blond and straight as corn silk. My eyes widened. I took in another breath, feeling the water fill me like air.

I blew up this time and I felt the water push me up quickly, changing direction in the blink of an eye. I narrowed my eyes in confusion, and there was a small laugh. It was Ino, I was sure of it, although this time, she wasn't laughing psychotically with that murderous intent she had before that made her hell-bent on getting me to stop talking for good until she corrected the problem. It was a sweet little laugh.

It grew louder as I felt her cold presence near me until she materialized in the water in front of me, her short hair floating upward with the current as we were pushed upward to nowhere in particular. The water seemed never-ending. She was smiling, her ice-blue eyes shining in content. "Well, well, well Temari, look what we have found out about you…"

I blinked in confusion, staring at her. She surveyed me, floated around me like any ordinary spirit. "Yes, yes, yes. Interesting, very interesting indeed." I sighed. "Ino, you sound like a mad scientist. Will you please just tell me what the hell you're talking about?"

She grinned at me, eyes closing in emphasis. "Well Tema-chan, it seems as though I've just found your element."

**Tenten**

I awoke to a kiss on my lips. The lips were soft and warm, but in my morning haze they were highly unrecognizable, so as a normal reaction that occurred every so often when I woke up, I shot up and tossed a kunai at the person.

There was a 'thump' and the kunai embedded itself into the wall only slightly. It wouldn't leave a noticeable mark. I blinked and clutched at my racing heart in surprise. I hadn't had to do something like that in a while and doing it again made me feel scared that someone had broken into the house.

Someone placed a hand on my back. It was warm and slightly larger than the average hand, so I was presuming it was a boy. I grabbed at my shirt right above where my heart was and turned my head to see Neji staring at me worriedly. "Are you okay?" His deep voice jerked me out of haziness and sent me into wakefulness. "I'm…I'm fine…" I gasped out.

Wiping the perspiration that sprouted on my forehead with the back of my hand I threw myself back onto the couch next to Neji, who was leaning on the arm of the sofa on his elbow. "Shit, please don't do that again." He let out a small chuckle that brought a small smile to my face. "Fine, fine, so long as you promise to not come close to beheading me with a kunai."

Blinking as realization dawned on me that it was him that I'd thrown the kunai at, I let my eyes drift toward his neck only to see a thin line of blood slipping down. "Shit…my bad Neji." He shrugged. "It's fine." I shook my head. "No…it's not…you're bleeding."

He frowned in confusion and brought a hand up to touch his neck. When he retracted it he and looked at the blood on his finger, he shrugged. "It's only a flesh wound." I crossed my arms. "No it's not! Think, a little slower and I could've snapped your artery completely off." He rolled his eyes. "Okay, no you're just exaggerating." I grinned. "Am I? Do you not yet know the powers of my aim?"

He let out another chuckle. "Yes, I know them very well, but you are still exaggerating." I rolled my eyes and leaned toward his neck slowly, my intentions forming as I went along. He froze. "What the hell are you doing?" I smiled up at him as he looked down at me although my head was already at his neck. "Curing you." I could practically feel him raising his eyebrow.

"Curing me? How in the hell is breathing down my neck curing me?" I smirked slightly now. "Like this." And with that I placed my lips against his neck and sucked up the little blood there. I could feel him stiffen at my action but I didn't pull away. I continued to remove the blood from his neck.

The door to the kitchen creaked and I heard Naruto and Sasuke stop mid-conversation. I felt both of the eyes on us, and I see their gaping faces from the little I could see from my view. And then suddenly, they smirked evenly.

I saw them both lift up their phones and hastily snap pictures with their cameras. Wrapping my arms around Neji's waist, I pulled away from his neck and laid my head on his chest. I could feel him giving me the biggest 'WTF' look ever, but it just made me laugh slightly. "You so stupid. Awe, but I love you." I reached up and squeezed his cheek, looking into his silver eyes. He relaxed slightly, his look falling but only just a bit.

"Did you just have a moment on me?" I blinked. "What the hell are you talking about?" He raised an eyebrow as he looked down at me. "Did you just have a moment on me?" Again, I blinked. "Well, what do you mean by moment?"

He smirked. "A _moment_." I frowned, not getting the emphasis on the word moment. And then finally getting it, I let my eyes widen to dinner plate size. "No, no, no! Calm down, you were bleeding, I took care of it."

"By sucking on my cut?" I grinned. "Yup! Cuz I'm unique like that." He smirked. "Well unique can also be a bad thing." I rolled my eyes and rested my head back on his chest. I could still feel Naruto and Sasuke's eyes on us, but I didn't give a fuck. This moment belonged to me and Neji.

I smiled into his shirt and closed my eyes. "Whatever…it's all your fault for waking me up like that." He shrugged. "I'm not making any promises."

"And I'm not getting any younger."

I jumped in surprise as Shikamaru spoke for the first time since I'd woken up. How long had _he _been awake? With a sigh, I asked. "What do you mean by that?" He pointed toward Ino and Temari. Ino was lying motionless on the floor next to Kiba beside a couch, completely motionless, not even breathing, and Temari was lying against the floor, breathing deeply, with a deep scowl on her face, but she looked confused. Her teal eyes were closed, for whatever reason.

My mind really was hazy because I couldn't put two and two together. "And your point would be?" Shikamaru let out a lazy sigh. "Ino transferred into Temari's body and she's been in there for a while, maybe ten, eleven minutes." I rolled my eyes. "Okay…and?" He smirked slightly. "I wanna know who's kicking who's ass."

I shrugged. "It was probably a double knock-out with their morning breath as the cause." Everyone in the room that was awake let out a laugh, Naruto being the loudest and most energetic. I raised an eyebrow. "What? I wasn't being funny, I was serious."

I glanced down at Temari's face. I could just make out the twitch of a smirk appear on her face and I shivered against Neji in fear quickly. "I don't even wanna know the crazy, sadistic things those two are doing…"

He raised his eyebrow. "What are you talking about?" I shivered again, an aftershock I guess. "When I say Ino's the master of torture I mean the international master of torture that has ever lived…she's incredibly gifted in it…hell I think she could even kick Orochimaru's ass with her mind if she polishes it a little bit…and Temari…" I shivered again. "Once that bitch goes hell-bent on murder, she doesn't stop until she sees blood pour out by the gallons…that and she is crazily good at getting to you with her disappearing act with the wind."

Neji spoke again. "So what you're saying is that they both have their own torture methods and ways of destroying their enemies completely." I nodded. "They love to play around before they go in for the kill."

Suddenly, his eyes glazed, and he seemed like he was lost in thought. I blinked and snapped my fingers in front of him. He snapped his head down to look at me. "Is that why you were saying you and Ino were the only vampires around?" I grinned and nodded. "Exhibit A; Ino plays with her opponents, gets in their mind, literally, before taking them down. Exhibit B; I sucked your blood, didn't I?"

He smirked. "I didn't feel seduced at all." I shrugged. "Need I remind you I'm not Ami?" His smirk widened. "No…I don't need reminding…" His face hardened all of a sudden and he moved his gaze away. "Trust me…I don't need it at all."

I blinked. "Oh yeah! Speaking of which, how the hell did you subdue that crazy ass?" He glanced over at me, and I could just barely make out the hidden conflict within his eyes…

What the hell was he contemplating?

He smirked. "I shot her…"

"Are you fucking serious?"

He nodded, the smirk playing onto his lips just a bit more. "In the leg…and arm…and shoulder…" My eyes widened. "What the hell? That's a triple shot, she could be dead by now…" He raised an eyebrow in confusion at me as I smirked. "Hee…well you probably should've shot her one more time…as a just in case thing."

Sasuke and Naruto laughed and I couldn't help but grin. I pushed myself up on the couch just a little more to give him a quick peck on the lips before I sat up, rubbed my eye, and crawled over Neji off of the couch. I stumbled on my way to the steps as the blood came down from my head to the rest of my body. Once I grabbed hold of the railing. I got a little control over misbalance and walked up the stairs evenly: As soon as I reached the top, the door to Sakura and Ino's room opened and out came Sakura and Sakurambo, both with red-rimmed puffy eyes. I blinked and raised an eyebrow. "What are you two writing about so early in the morning?" Sakura took in a steady breath. "Umm… Tenten we're gonna have to find Lee a professional." I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that… you can cure him… right?" She bit her lip. "His injuries are serious. …part of his vertebral column broke. He chipped a vertebra and part of his shoulder bone."

I blinked. "But you can do the operation to make him feel better…right?" She shook her head. "No Tenten, the thing is that in order to do that operation I have to know how to duplicate cells and tissue." I crossed my arms. "But don't you know how to do that?" She nodded. "But one by one, not all at once."

With a sigh I said. "Can't you at least try the operation?" She shook her head again. "No, it's too risky." I raised an eyebrow again. "What's the worst that can happen?" She bit her lip for a quick second, so hard a little blood poured out. "He can die Tenten. There's a fifty percent chance that he'll die with the operation alone so if I weren't to conduct it right then it would just lower whatever chance he has at survival."

Resigning on it altogether, I said, "Then who do we go to?" Sakura smiled all of a sudden. It was a small smile that proceeded to grace Sakurambo's lips as well. "Well…Tsunade-sama can-." I shook my head, putting my hands up in front of me. "No! Sakura, she's a teacher. How do we know she's not gonna call the police on our asses? I mean, even if they don't do much, they still somewhat do their job." Her smile only widened. "Relax Tenten. She knows all about Kunai, Akuri Kaze, The Professionals, and Hakai. She knows all about Orochimaru's true intentions…she's known for years…decades even."

I frowned. "What are you saying?" Sakura smirked. "I'm saying that Tsunade-sama was in the same gang that Orochimaru started off in about thirty-five years ago."

**Hinata**

I placed the plates on the table quickly and easily with Naruto helping out. I finished my stack and turned and grabbed the food. I served even portions onto each plate until there was nothing left and smiled to myself.

Naruto grinned from in front of me. "You're a great cook Hinata." I blushed lightly. "Th-thanks…" His grin widened just slightly. "And you're really clean too, like Mrs. Clean or something." I blushed an even deeper shade of pink. "You're gonna make a great wife one day." I blushed deeper than ever…

Was he implying that…?

No…he wasn't.

Realizing what he said he jumped up and covered his mouth. "I-I mean umm…to umm…you'd be umm…you'd be a great wife…umm…to the lucky man that…dammit!" I giggled, still blushing slightly. He was so funny…and so cute when he stuttered.

Was that why people liked me so much? Because I stuttered a lot?

Well, either way…

I smiled at him. "Naruto-kun…it's o-!" The door slammed open and I turned to see Tenten in the doorway. "Holy shit! Naruto, Hinata, in the living room, now!" Without a second's hesitation we nodded and followed her over into the living room. Everyone was awake and seated, with Shikamaru, Temari, Ino, and Kiba all sitting in one line in that order. Tenten took her place on Neji's lap on the loveseat and Sakura and Sakurambo squished on either side of Sasuke on the three seater.

I took a seat next to Neji and Naruto sat down with his back to my legs…not that I minded.

"Go Temari…Ino…tell them!" Temari smirked slightly as Ino opened her mouth to talk. "Okay, believe this or not, me and Temari got into a fight this morning because she wouldn't shut the fuck up where I transferred into her body. And while I was in there, I was making her all nervous and shit, making her scream like a little girl and-." Sakura interrupted. "Okay, we get that, but can you get to the important part?" Ino glared at her. "I was getting there. So anyways, before I was so rudely interrupted…I was saying that I was making her scared. So much so that I led her to her subconscious and you'll never believe what I found out."

I raised an eyebrow in anticipation as did everyone else. "I've found Temari's element." We all blinked. "What's an element?" Ino smirked. "It's a substance on the periodic table…duh!" I crossed my arms. "Okay…then what's the exorcist definition for element?" She grinned. "Well in the case of exorcism, it comes across as the existence that your spirit willingly allows you to have control over."

I smiled. "And you've found Temari's?" She nodded. "And as shocking as this sounds it's not air…" Everyone in the room perked up. "Say what?" Naruto asked, his face dropping into confusion. "Then how the hell is she able to use wind?" Ino smirked. "Well think about it, what two periodic elements make up air?" He pursed his lips in deep concentration.

Sakura sighed. "Nitrogen and Oxygen, with two Nitrogen atoms and one Oxygen atom ." Ino nodded. Naruto looked up. "So she can control both Nitrogen and Oxygen? And that's it?" Ino shook her head. "But she can also use water…think about it…"

Snapping my fingers I replied. "Oxygen!" She raised her gaze over to me. "What about it?" I let loose a smile. "That's Temari's element…isn't it?" She grinned and nodded over at me. "Exactly. Just by controlling oxygen, she can easily manipulate air and water, but since she's an air-breather, she's much better at dealing with air than with water."

Tenten held up a hand to stop her. "Wait…so what you're saying is that Temari can whoop ass both on land and under water?" Ino nodded. With a smirk, Tenten leaned back on Neji. "Temari…" Said girl glanced up at her. "Yes?"

Her smirk slowly broadened. "You'd better learn how to hold your breath." Temari raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean."

With a weird twinkle in her eye, Tenten replied. "What I'm saying is that you're going to start training…_underwater_…"

* * *

_Muah ha ha ha ha ha haaaa! As Tenten so cooly stated in the last chapter; this just got interesting! lolx well I'm not gonna rant about this chapter like I usually do. So, I'll leave it here. _

_Happy New Year/Decade!_

_Thanks to all who read and review please :]_


	20. Refusal

**Chapter Twenty**

**Refusal **

_I want your love  
And I want your revenge  
__You and me could run  
A bad romance_

_I want your love  
__And all your love is revenge  
__You and me could run  
A bad romance – Lady Gaga; Bad Romance_

_----_

He let out a small sigh as he watched the training that was going on. Sitting on the white sand out in front of the deep blue water made him recall his dream even more.

He clamped his eyes shut for a split second. He didn't want to think about that. No. He _wouldn't _think about that. It hurt him way too much, even though he would always hide it with his pride, because of his pride. He'd shove it to the far dark recesses of his mind and put on an emotionless façade so nobody would suspect that there was something wrong with him.

But there was. He missed his family and he longed for the revenge he'd vowed to get himself so many years ago. Even after four years, the dream remained strong, though well hidden. The offer he'd been given seemed too good to pass up and he knew he was a fool if he didn't take it. But for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to leave, at least not yet.

His gaze shifted to his right to see her smiling and cheering on her friend. _Her_. _She _was the reason he hadn't left yet. She blinked open her emerald orbs and let out a big smile before she turned to him. "You saw that, right? She's doing great!" He didn't' smile back, even though he wanted to, but let her know with a nod.

She wasn't stupid, not at all. As a matter of fact, she was like a teenage genius. Seeing the emotionless façade he usually kept up when his pride was hurt scared her, more so because nobody had spoken to him since they'd gotten there. It was beginning to plague her thoughts as to why he was so quiet now. He'd have usually been betting Hyuga on when the girl would finally give way.

A small frown found its way to her face and she leaned closer to him. "What's wrong?" He shook his head, his deep voice coming out in a monotone. "Nothing's wrong." She was unconvinced. "No, really Sasuke…what's wrong?" He sighed. "It's nothing…just…a memory that's all…" She blinked, and the frown came again.

"Sasuke, really what's-?" She was stopped by him putting a hand up. "I told you…I'm fine…" With a new set worry in her gut, she nodded slightly before turning her attention back to the water out in front of them just as another whirlpool formed.

----

**Temari  
**"Try it again!" I let out a frustrated sigh. "Can't we take a break? I'm thirsty, dammit!" Tenten shook her head at me, her hair swishing out in the water behind her. "Temari, come on! Do you want to whoop ass, yes or no?" I groaned for about the billionth time that hour. "Yeah, but-!" I was cut short by her shaking her head and speaking. "Temari, no buts unless it's yours working!"

A glare crossed my face as I looked at her, but slowly that glare turned into a smirk as a plan formulated in my head. "Okay…I'll work harder…" A look of suspicion crossed her face but she said nothing as I sank down into the water, not bothering to take a breath, as I clutched my fan in my hand.

Automatically, as I went down, a small glow framed around me. It was just something that I did so I could see in the dark water. From here, I could see Tenten's legs drifting in the water. I let a small smirk cross my face as I rippled the current only slightly so that I wouldn't have to disturb it all that much to propel myself toward her.

She drew closer and closer as I sped toward her and at the last minute, I rippled the current again and it went back to normal. With my smirk still in place, I took a deep breath of water, feeling it course through me like oxygen, before I opened my fan and spun around thrice. On the third spin, I took the pressure I'd built up and shot it at her before pushing myself back on the current and rising up to the surface just in time to see her let out a small scream and sink into the water.

"Heh hee…beat that…" There was a small disturbance in the surface and I winced as a sharp pain ran through my arm. I blinked and looked at the now bleeding cut on my arm, not so deep, but damn painful. "Fucking bitch! Dammit! Even underwater she has perfect aim. How the hell is she so good?" There were a few laughs from behind me, my guess from Naruto, Kiba, Ino, Sakura, Karin, Sakurambo, and Lee, who was now walking on a crutch as an in the meantime thing.

I frowned and glared at the water under me before I sank down into it, hissing at the sting in my arm. The blood seeped out in front of me in a little flow of red in the deep blue. It floated there for a second before it drifted off with the current.

There was a strong glow around my arm and I looked to where my cut was to see it slowly closing up, leaving no trace of a cut when it fully closed. I blinked and looked toward where the kunai had come from only to see Tenten studying me, her cheeks puffed up and pink from what I could see in the blue. She had a finger to her chin in mock thought. I raised an eyebrow and in a motion as quick as lightning waved my fan around. The breath left her and she turned a bright red color. I smirked and spoke. "I control oxygen now so don't take me lightly."

With another flick of my wrist, a swirl of water emitted around her and soon there was a small bubble blocking out water from around her. She looked around herself carefully before she blinked and grinned at me, holding up a thumbs up. "I'm good! I'm good!" She called to me.

She leaned forward and slowly began swimming toward me. I blinked a few times as she got closer. She stopped abruptly in front of me and began studying me again. I raised an eyebrow at her as she leaned close to my face. "Why the hell are you looking at me like I'm one of your geometry books?" She shook her head and ignored me question, asking me her own as she picked up my arm. "Temari…how in the hell did you do that?"

With a shrug, I said "I have absolutely no clue…it just happened." She heaved a sigh and grabbed my arm. With a small frown she began poking it. I raised an eyebrow. "What the hell are you doing?" She grinned. "Annoying the hell out of you." I glared at her. "Really? Underwater? Where there's tons of oxygen?" She crossed her arms as a small victorious smirk crossed my features. "Oh poo. You're no fun Tema-chan!"

She let out a laugh as she swam to the surface. I followed right after her lazily. "Okay, seriously Tenten…can't we just stop and continue later? We've been at this for about an hour already?" She heaved another sigh. "Fine, fine…but you'd better dry me off once we get to shore because I'm sure it's gonna be damn cold once we get out." With a grimace, I said, "Yeah, because it's not damn cold in here already…"

Another small laugh escaped her as she plunged back into the water and swam off. Gripping my fan tightly, I pushed water behind me, and as a result it pushed me forward. I spun around once and pushed the water opposite the direction I'd been heading. In return, I was pushed forward, what with inertia and crap. I let out a little laugh that bubbled out in front of me as the water propelled me forward. This was fun. I had to be going at least eighty miles an hour, and in such deep water. I quickly changed the course of the current as the water grew shallower. It pushed me up to the surface and as soon as I felt the _real_ air come into my system, I changed the current and it pushed me forward again, up until my feet touched the soft, cold sand somewhere in the five foot range after the shoreline.

Closing up my fan, I placed it back into my holster and continued on to the shoreline by foot. It wasn't that far. It was probably just a few feet away in distance to the shoreline, not depth. I sighed. I just realized I sound like a complete nerd…

Heh, heh, nerd…

That's a funny word…I wonder if it stands for something…heh, heh…Never Eat Raw Duck…heh, yeah. Wow…that was just really stupid.

Shaking my head of all thoughts of nerds, I continued my walk forward. I blinked, finally noticing Tenten waiting for me at the shore. I blinked. "How…in the hell?" She grinned at me. "The wonders that sneaking along on your currents can work! Now hurry the hell up, I'm cold!" I let out a laugh and stuck my tongue out at her. "Well, serves you right for trying to get there before me, you brat!" She rolled her eyes and shivered a little when the wind went by. A small smirk played over my face. "What's wrong? My element messing with you?"

She rolled her eyes at glared at me as I finally reached the shore. "Finally! Now come on, before we freeze our asses o-aaaaaah!" I smirked as the water crashed over her in a giant wave. As it washed off, I saw her hair slip out of its buns and tumble down straight from how soaked it was. "Thank you, bitch…" I smiled sweetly. "Awe, you're welcome hoe."

And all was forgiven and we laughed it off. I wrapped an arm around her shoulder in a sisterly way and we walked over to our friends, who were anticipating us with tons of towels and blankets, as well as dry clothes and thermals. I blinked. "How cold do you think we are?" Ino shrugged. "You're both shivering and soaked…"

I sighed. She wasn't that far. Actually, she was right. I was cold as ever, so much so I was shivering with Tenten. With a big, cheesy grin, she shoved the towels and clothes into our hands. "Now make yourselves useful and go change before Sakura starts bitching about having to cure your head-colds." I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, because curing head-colds is really such a hard bitch to deal with…" From next to me, Tenten laughed, even though that comment was meant to be muttered and was intentionally for only me to hear. Ino raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "What's so funny?"

Grinning, I grabbed Tenten behind me toward the bathrooms, letting out a teasing, "Wouldn't you like to know!"

**  
Sakura  
**Karma's such a bitch…

Karma's such a damn bad bitch…I can't stand it…really…I honestly can say it doesn't make any sense to me either. It makes me so damn mad and I'm pretty sure it does it just to annoy mean.

Why am I calling karma such a fucking bitch you ask? Well, I'd like to say it's because I'm its best friend and get along well with it and that's a little insiders joke but it's not. It's because I come over to help save a city…and I have no intentions of having any sorts of distractions…and yet…I inexplicably and inevitably start crushing on someone…

And the guy's taken over by revenge…he wants to kill his brother! He cares about nothing else in this world. My reasons for suddenly crushing on him are unknown, hence the inexplicability of it. All I know is that once his lips are placed over mine and he's letting his feelings flow through…there's nothing else in this world. It would just be me and him and the butterflies in my stomach. It'd feel like I were being lifted from the ground with wings and flying upward to Heaven.

But karma has to come in and fuck things up as usual. It was like I could never have happiness in my life.

Lifting my head from watching my legs swing loosely from my seat, I glanced over at him. He was leaning on a nearby tree with his arms crossed over his chest, glaring at nothing in particular, as per usual. A small sigh escaped my lips. _Damn it Sasuke…why are you so difficult_?

I turned my head and looked out at the blue expanse to my front, watching the blue waves crash against the shore in large gulps in water and salty foam. It made me wonder. Even if the waves that hit the shore were strong I was almost positive that it was a soft sensation against the soft white sand. My mind couldn't help itself. It closed around the idea. It was like a big crush. The idea of it hit you hard, but it could just barely make it through you to the other person without it hurting you…

_Yeah, that's pathetic…are you an idiot…don't compare your pathetic non-existent love life with the sea's beauty…_

Letting out another sigh, I confirmed my thoughts. "It sucks when the one you like doesn't like you back…" No one was around me, they'd all gone to where Temari and Tenten had been a couple minutes ago, so I was safe to crazily mutter stuff to myself and feel depressed for that minute about my terrible luck with that one guy.

My eyes closed all on their own, but I didn't mind. I left them like that, up until a thought occurred to me. They shot open quickly and I felt a small urge creeping up inside me. It was small, so it should've been easy to ignore, and yet, it wasn't. I blinked and looked away, back toward the group to distract myself from the idea, only to see Neji and Tenten hugging happily.

Seeing them like that felt like a cold slap in the face. There was a pang in my heart as I watched them sway side to side, more so Tenten's doing as they hugged, little smiles on their faces. It made me feel jealous that I didn't have the ability or the luck to do that. It disturbed me even. It made me angry. I felt my frown come up but I didn't do anything to repeal it. I let it just rest on my face.

The notion in the back of my mind sprang forward, expanding, and the urge in me grew. I couldn't ignore it at all now. Without much thought, I got up from where I was sitting and bolted toward the edge of the cliff, and glanced at the endless blue peeking out of me. It was deep enough, at least twenty maybe thirty feet. Taking a quick glance behind me, all I saw was Sasuke's eyes meet with mine and another pang came up in my heart, only this time, one of sadness, and that only made my decision that much easier. With a small smile I turned around to face him before I stepped backward off the edge of the cliff and let gravity pull me down toward the water.

It was quick. One minute there was the sight of Sasuke running toward me at a full sprint and the next there was water rushing all around me. It impacted my back hard, and from the second I fell in, there was a dreary coldness setting in on me, but it was just because of how deep I fell into the water.

Blinking my eyes open, I let out a small giggle, smiling as it bubbled out in front of me, before kicking myself up to the surface.

I kept myself afloat easily while I gasped in a breath. I glanced up to see Sasuke's face looking down at me worriedly. My eyebrows raised in an immediate reaction to my widening eyes. He actually looked scared. Then, my surprise and shock turned into confusion before settling into a slight smugness.

Good. I hope he was scared shitless. It gave me a sense of knowing that he wasn't completely heartless, that he was somewhat okay with me. His own concern turned into a deep set glare as I gave him a small smirk. I could hear my friends screaming and running up to the cliff. I blinked and my smirk slowly widened as I took a deep breath and sunk under the water again, enjoying the small worried look on Sasuke's face again.

Once I was completely underwater, I started swimming around the rock, keeping my eyes open, but only slightly, seeing as the salt kind of burned my eyes. I propelled myself forward toward the shore. I could easily feel the water getting shallower but it wasn't by much.

When I needed more air, I popped up for a second, took a deep breath, and then sunk back under without making a sound so that my friends wouldn't see me. Taking a brief glance at them before I went down again, I noticed that Temari was pulling out her fan and opening it up.

The small smirk never left my face as I swam toward the shore. Eventually, I just let the waves carry me while I was under water. My feet came into contact with the sand and I jumped up onto my feet quickly, took another gasp of air, and sunk down, pushing myself forward with my hands. The water grew too shallow for me too keep doing that so I got up and ran. Thankfully, I was a little ways away so they couldn't hear me. It would just sound like the usual crash of the waves.

The crash of the waves. The small irony made me smile, but just a bit. My smirk was back in place as I ran up to my friends in my silent manner. I was sure that not even Tenten heard me, and she had ears like a hawk [hee hee, hawk ears…do they even have ears?]. I continued on forward.

Their faces showed deep worry and Sasuke sighed and shook his head. He bent down, as if getting ready to jump. I smirked and screamed out to them all. "Boo yah! Gotcha!" They all jumped about three feet into the air, and Sasuke went flying over the cliff, taking a deep breath. There was a big splash and I walked over to the edge of the cliff to see him surfacing. I stuck my tongue out at him. "Ha-ha! You was shitting bricks!" He gave me a glare that had me thinking _if looks could kill_ but I remained unfazed.

Someone's hand came into contact with the back of my head and I turned around and socked whoever it was in the face. I brought my hand back quickly and then let out a large fit of laughter when I realize I'd just punched Sakurambo in the cheek. "Sorry twin! Next time, don't hit me!" Her glare was one that matched Sasuke's as she wiped the blood dripping down her chin from her mouth. In a flash, she was in my face, and no sooner had she gotten to me than had she thrown a kick to my head.

I ducked and let out a laugh as I flipped over her in a quick movement, pushing off her head.

"Whoopsy daisy! I said sorry!" As soon as I landed, I got a mouthful of her knuckles. I felt myself bite my lips and the blood poured out. And yet, I couldn't help but laugh as the blood poured down my lip and mixed with the water dripping from my soaked hair down my face. "Nice shot." Unsurprisingly, she joined in the laughter and a silly grin graced her features. "Sakura you're so stupid! Jumping off a cliff was terrible…but so damn good! Why didn't I think of that?" My own grin came into place. "You don't have my mentality, that's why!" With an eye-roll, she walked over to me and offered me her hand.

I grabbed it and she pulled me up. "But I thought we shared a brain?" I shrugged. "That's what everyone says, but it seems like I got the smarter side."

She rolled her eyes again and pointed behind me. "Now you might want to deal with your mad ass boyfriend." Giving her a quick glare, I opened my mouth to tell her that he wasn't my boyfriend when a thought occurred to me. I turned around and pointed at him. "How the hell did you get up here so fast?" He pointed to Temari, who was leaning on her open fan, her grin spreading so much that it made her eyes close with the emotion of it. She pulled up a peace sign.

Rolling my eyes, I turned back to the seething Sasuke in front of me. He grabbed me by the arms, his cold gaze meeting mine. "Why in the hell did you do that?" I shrugged, although his hands remained in place. "Are you insane? I really thought you were trying to commit suicide! What was the point of that shit anyway?"

I grinned. "To scare you shitless…" His glare intensified and even though now he was scaring _me_ shitless…I found it kind of sexy. I kept up my smirk to hide my thoughts but I was sure my eyes gave me away. "You did all this to try and scare me?" My smirk widened. "I didn't try. I managed…succeeded…in getting you nervous." He rolled his eyes. "You jumped off a cliff and you expected me not to react?"

I knew everyone's eyes were on us, but frankly, I couldn't care less. "Well, you act so damn indifferent that I thought you wouldn't even care. I could've tried to drown myself and you wouldn't have cared." His glare softened only slightly, as if he caught what I meant. It was just a slight let up, but I noticed it.

Without much thought in it, he pulled me into a huge hug. I felt my eyes widen in surprise and I heard a few of the girls behind me giggle while the boys let out weird snickers. Frankly, I didn't give a fuck. He pulled his arms around my waist and pulled me closer, keeping his arms tight around me. A blush crept onto my face. At that very moment, all I wanted to know was what the others were thinking, but I couldn't see their faces with him hugging me this tight.

It was hard to not let my arms wrap around his neck and hug him back. I bit my lip in an order of restraint. Apparently, I bit myself too hard because some blood came pouring down my lip along with the blood that had already been coming down. Hugging him was like hugging an ice-cube, hypothetically and literally because not only was he freezing but he usually had one of the coldest attitudes I'd ever come to know.

My arms wanted nothing more than to throw themselves around his neck and my lips wanted nothing more than to lay themselves on his, but I couldn't. It took all my willpower not to, and even still it was a battle I was losing to my arms.

Eventually, I couldn't keep control, so I just let them snap up around his neck and I pulled him even closer into a tight hug. My already bright pink blush darkened and brightened at once, going from pink to bright red as I hugged him tightly. I didn't exactly know what it was for, but I didn't care. I was comfortable just being in his arms the way I was. A few of the girls let out some 'ooh's while some of the boys…snickered still, and laughed.

I let my hand tangle up in his hair, and I tightened my hold on him, just as a small reaction of having my arms around him. There was a small collection of sighs that I recognized as Temari's, Sakurambo's, Ino's, Hinata's, Tenten's, and even Karin's. Temari was sighing in a 'Lord help me not smack the shit out of these two' type way while the other girls were sighing in an awestruck kind of way.

Right now, they didn't matter all that much. I was in his arms, and that was all that mattered…I still think karma's a bitch though because right during that one moment, he'd taken it a step further…

Apparently publicly hugging me wasn't enough, wasn't it? No! He just had to go and do the one thing I'd never expected him to do in front of anyone…

He kissed me…

After we'd tried so hard to hide everything that we'd done behind everyone's backs, including us making out behind the tree in the rain, kissing in the forest the day Neji and Tenten started going out, hiding our confusing flirtatious relationship, he'd go and drop the bomb and kiss me like this.

And I helped him by kissing him back…

I couldn't help it. It was a natural born reaction. Whenever he kissed me, I just grabbed some of his hair and stood on my toes to kiss him back, and his arms around my waist would just tighten, as they were now. I heard the collective gasps and breaths from behind me, but I didn't dare break that kiss…it was simply too beautiful to stop. His tongue came into contact with my own and I smiled a little as we began to wrestle for dominance. My mind drifted off. For a few minutes, I was in my own world, and Sasuke was the only one that mattered. I forgot all about our group of mocking, teasing, and playful friends standing right behind us. I was too entranced by the way our mouths molded together so easily to really notice anything except him.

It was love…I realized…what I felt for Sasuke wasn't a simple high-school girl's crush, or even love-sick teenage type love. What I felt was the purest of them all, the love of true love. I couldn't place my finger on it that one day, when we'd kissed under the tree. I'd felt like it was just me and him, and I'd tried so desperately to find out why I was feeling the way I was…and now…just about a week or two later, I'd found my answer.

I loved him…it was inevitable…Sasuke, miraculously, stole my heart, and I didn't even know how he did it, but the one thing I was positive of was…

I sure as hell didn't want it back…

**  
Hinata  
**All I could do was smile slightly at them as they kissed. I never thought he'd do it. I never believed for a second that Sasuke would show his affection for Sakura publicly, but anything was possible, wasn't it? The small smile on my face could broaden only slightly as I fondly watched them kiss.

From next to me, I heard Naruto let out a sigh. I turned to face him automatically. "Is there something wrong, Naruto-kun?" He shook his head and placed an arm around my shoulders, making a slight blush creep onto my face. "It's just that…I never thought I'd see the day when Teme publicly let his hormones get the better of him and not because of a damn dare…" He fisted his hand and wiped at his eyes. I raised an eyebrow. "Why are you crying?"

He pulled his fist away from his face and tightened it, so much so his knuckles turned white, and shook it. "Teme is finally growing up…and he's showing an interest in girls…for a minute we all thought he'd turn the other cheek…if you know what I mean." With that he gave me a wink and I blushed as I let out a small giggle.

"Naruto-kun, you have such a huge imagination…" He grinned widely and pulled me closer to his side. "You bet I do!" The fond smile still I my face, I turned to see Sasuke and Sakura silently pull apart before Sakura blushed a deep red that matched the crimson tank-top she was wearing. A wind rolled by and she shivered slightly. That was my cue.

I grabbed a blanket from behind me and hurried over to them. We'd all been so caught up in the fact that they'd actually shown their affection toward each other publicly that we'd forgotten that they were soaked to the bone in salt water.

Quickly unfolding it, I wrapped it around the both of them and they just stared at me. From where I was standing, they looked like a two headed, double-gendered monster because of how tightly I'd wrapped the blanket around them. They were practically pressing against each other, however Sakura took a small breath. "Thanks Hinata." I smiled and nodded at her. I felt someone stop right next to me so I glanced up to see Naruto there. He pulled me into a tight, one-armed hug. "Hinata, you're so damn adorable!"

A blush made its way to my face as I was pulled to him tightly. Sakura let out a little laugh as Sasuke smirked. "Awe, Hinata and Naruto! You guys are so damn adorable!"

"Not as adorable as you and Sasuke."

At this, said people blushed a pinkish color. We all glanced over to our left to see Tenten leaning against Neji's back, with her arms crossed over her chest. Her baggy skinny jeans blew a little with the wind. "And as much as you two used to tease me and Neji about it…look who it happens to next…" She 'tsk'ed a few times before a small smirk played onto both of their faces. "Now, let's see how long it takes before you two get together…"

Sakura glared at her and I saw her move around in the tightness of the blanket, most likely trying to break free. "Dammit! Tenten, when I get my hands on you I'm gonna wring your skinny little neck and then snap it into about a thousand pieces, then take the bone and stick it through your major veins before I decapitate you and throw your body in the damn ocean for the sharks to eat!"

Tenten's smirk never faltered as she raised a brown eyebrow. "Is that supposed to scare me?" Naruto and Sasuke shuddered noticeably. "It sure as hell scared me…" They said together and I giggled as a small smirk played upon Neji's lips. Tenten stood up straight and walked over to us, getting a little close to Sakura's face. Sakura growled dangerously before she replied. "Fine then! I'll go with something classic…how bout I just rip you limb from limb!?" Her smirk never died as she pulled the blanket off Sakura and placed it on Sasuke's head. "Try it…"

And like that they were off. Sakura swung at her a few times, only to come into contact with air as Tenten dodged her throws easily. Sakura let out a frustrated and angry growl as she continued on swinging her fists toward Tenten's face.

"You know it's useless if you can't land the hit…strength doesn't matter if you can't use it…" Her smirk widened slightly as she dodged and Sakura hit a tree full force. The thing wobbled as her fist mark sunk deep into the middle of its trunk. From next to me, I saw Naruto, Sasuke, and Neji all shudder. "Damn…good luck staying alive with her Uchiha…"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, teme. I wouldn't cheat on her or anything if I were you…I'd be too scared she be able to whoop my ass…" Temari, who'd joined us when the boys had shuddered, smirked and spoke. "Oh, she'll do more than that. She'll take your manhood, rip it off, and throw it somewhere deep inside the equator and yet she'll somehow find a way to make sure you feel it burn…"

She let out a small laugh at the guys' faces as their hands shot downward in a protective manner. "Oh hell no! Good luck with that Sasuke!"

I let out a sigh before walking forward and stopping in between the two fighting girls. I raised both my hands out to my sides and held them out there. They froze instantaneously, as if they already knew what was coming. Tenten blinked, rooted to the spot, as she stared at my hand. Sakura simply twitched in horror.

Neither of them dared to move because they both knew what was coming to them. I let my eyes drift to both of them quickly before I let them rest on the ground in front of me. I closed them and took an even breath before I turned and agilely gentle fisted them both. Tenten got hit with an open-palm uppercut while Sakura got hit in the gut right underneath her ribcage.

Both girls let out a small, pained moan as they lost their footing for a few seconds and struggled to regain balance, taking a few steps back as a result. I crossed my arms over my chest. "I hate it when you guys fight…you're best friends…I understand teasing each other but Sakura, you looked like you were about ready to kill her…" Tenten smile was smug as a look of guilt crossed Sakura's face before I turned around to face her.

"And Tenten, pushing Sakura over the edge like that wasn't nice…if you were going to tease her, couldn't you have at least been a little less challenging?" Both girls winced in pain, grabbing at the abused spots before looking up at me. I heaved a sigh and stepped back one…I felt Neji step forward. "And your way of solving violence is through more violence?" I turned to him and nodded slightly. "Not all of the time, only when one of them looks like they're really about to kill each other…other than that I'll let them fight…"

He sighed and shook his head. "Hinata, you have changed compared to how you used to be…" I blinked a few times and he raised his hands in good way. "Not in a bad way…well…at least…not necessarily…I mean…you…" I rolled my eyes and gave him a quick hug. "I get it nii-san. Apology accepted." I heard Tenten and Sakura give a few 'awe's as he blushed a light pink. Tenten giggled and walked over. "You guys finally made up…in a civilized manner, instead of fighting and nearly killing each other like last time."

Her eyes flashed dangerously as she said the word 'killing' and I shook my head. "I should be saying the same thing about you and Sakura…" She blushed a slight pink before pushing me away and hugging Neji on her own. "You've maximized your cousin-hugging time. Now it's my turn!" She waggled her eyebrows as she wrapped her arms around his waist and grinned as Neji hugged her back.

Without much warning, Naruto wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me close. "It's okay, she can hug me!" A blush crept onto my face, I just know it. The heat under my cheeks gave away my embarrassment.

"Hinata!"

Thank the Lord for Ino…

With a small smile, I turned and walked over to her. "Yes?" She smiled back sweetly and picked up my hand. "Can I check to see if I find your element?" I blinked and stared at her for a minute. "Is it gonna hurt?"

She opened her mouth to reply but Temari cut her off. "YES! LIKE HELL! HINATA, DON'T DO IT! DON'T LET HER!" Ino looked like she was about ready to snap Temari's neck. Karin, Sakura, Sakurambo, and Tenten were all laughing with Naruto, Kiba, and Lee, who was leaning against a crutch. She huffed a heavy breath. "Ignore her Hinata, she doesn't know what she's talking about…it won't hurt one bit." She gave me a reassuring smile and I shrugged and nodded.

Her smile broadened slightly as she placed a hand on top of my head for a second and then pulled it back into her sign. "Okay…Exorcist Art: Mind Transfer Jutsu!" There was a cold sensation in me as her form entered my body. Subconsciously, I reached forward and caught her falling physical body and gently laid it against the grass.

She spoke to me from inside of me…which was weird. _"Hinata, lose yourself in your subconsciousness…think about what scares you most…it'll help me find out what your element is…"_ I nodded, knowing full well she could feel me doing so, before I closed my eyes in deep concentration. I took in a deep breath and felt around as I walked forward before sitting down under the tree Sakura had punched and getting into a meditation position.

I let out my breath slowly and let myself be lost in my mind. Memories and images flew behind me at a quick pace as I travelled further and further in my mind. It was creepy, really. I had such vivid memories of everything that had happened to me, and I just seemed to notice. A small frown unconsciously came to my face, but I didn't break my concentration.

I couldn't find Ino anywhere…

"_Don't get frustrated…just think about something that makes you angry or sad, that helps bring out the element because you're in need of it to comfort you and make you feel better…_" I bit my lip as I wracked my brain, searching through my thoughts. _"Ino…how does pulling out sad thoughts attract your element?" _I could feel her smile, and I knew it was visible on my face, because I felt the cold grace my lips. "_I don't exactly know…it has something to do with its spiritual connection to you…_"

I took in a deep breath and nodded. "_Okay…here goes…_"

Before I could change my mind, I pulled out the worst nightmare I'd ever experienced. It'd left me crying like a small child, and in a cold sweat. It'd woken not only me up, but everyone else in the house.

The cruelty and reality of the dream hit me hard as it plagued my mind again. I could feel Ino biting her lip as she watched it with me.

_A bang…a very loud bang, resounded through the building, and the plastered walls groaned, as if in pain. The heat in the building soared and a light gas began to cover the air. My chest compressed as I took in the last bit of fresh air, and got on my hands and knees and crawled across the hall. I could hear familiar yet unfamiliar distant screams, and I paused for a half a minute to see if I recognized them._

"_Hinata! Get out while you can! Go! Stay alive! Get the rest of the guys! GO!"_

_My eyes widened as I recognized Tenten's voice coming from around the hall behind me, around the corner. Feeling instinct take over, I shot up and, holding my breath, ran around the corner to see her fighting Orochimaru as best as she could, a deep wound in her side. "Dammit!" She just barely dodged another bullet, but it grazed her neck lightly, and I realized it was one of many small cuts he'd given her._

_On the floor, I could see Neji lying on his back, eyes closed, a bloody wound near his heart. There was a huge puddle of his own blood drenched around him, soaking deep into his clothes. I bit my lip as I realized he was dead…done…forever gone…and I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to my own cousin…_

_There was a cruel laugh and I turned to see that familiar sadistic grin, driven crazy by bloodlust and murderous intent. "Just give into your death…there's no possible way you can make it out of here alive…" I narrowed my eyes as the feeling burned inside me. It was like the fire that was slowly engulfing the building up above. It made me want to walk over and strangle the bearer of that sadistic, cold voice. It was the unfamiliar yet familiar feeling of bubbling rage…no not rage…_

_It was the deepest feeling of hatred I'd ever felt in my life. With a deep glare, I turned on Orochimaru, pointing at him in the most accusing way. "Why don't you just give in to old age and die yourself?!" He paused, lowering his gun, and turned his crazy smirk with me. "Oh…what's this? The shy one is speaking out?" He took a few steps forward and Tenten screamed out at him. "Don't you dare do anything to her, motherfucker! Hinata, run! Go! Get out of here while you can! Stay alive, dammit!"_

_I shook my head and stepped forward toward Orochimaru, the hatred burning deep within my heart. "Hatred always seems to get the better of us!" His sadistic smirk widened as he stepped forward, toward me. He cupped my chin and raised my face to look at him, and I gave him a glare of utmost defiance. "What a pity…a youth so genius…and so wasted on false anger, bravery, and hatred." I felt my glare intensify and I yelled at him. "This hatred and anger is anything but false, believe me! If anything, I can't stand you!" His face remained indifferent. "Poor, poor, Hinata…such a shame…it would've been such a great benefit to have you alive…too bad you're too stupid fighting for such an insolent and worthless orphan that you can't see the opportunity of life ahead of you…"_

_This time, I just spat at his face. It was the first time the words that had been bubbling in my mind had ever come out. "Fuck you!" It was the first time in my life that I had ever said those words. His smile turned senile. "Insolence must be in the gang…" He pushed my chin back and sent me to the floor onto my back. "Learn to respect your elders, young one…you don't want to end up like her…"_

_He lifted his gun back up and pointed it at Tenten behind him. A small smile crept up onto her face as she took a look at the gun. "Go! I'm giving you a chance to live. Forget about this…go…and you'll be spared…stay…and you'll-!"_

_Tenten screamed as she jumped up to get him but he proved to be pretty fast himself as he pulled back the trigger. There was a loud, resounding BANG and then everything in the hallway went silent, save for the loud groan Tenten gave as she went flying back. Once landing, she slid across the floor, clutching her now twice as bloody stomach, where the bullet had hit its target. As if by fate, she stopped right next to Neji._

_She tried to sit up but it proved too hard to do. There was a sudden look in her eye, a look I'd never seen on her face. Usually, she was determined and ready to keep going, but looking deeply, I saw the resignation and haze in her eyes. I could practically feel her thoughts go cloudy as she let herself drop back onto her back and raised a hand to touch Neji's cheek, a tear running down her own. "Looks like I'll be with you soon…"_

_I blinked back my own tears. "Tenten!"_

_She didn't seem to hear me…she seemed too entranced by Neji's face…_

_A tight arm wrapped around my waist, an arm that felt like a familiar stranger. For the third time in that time lapse from the explosion to now, I felt like I didn't know who anyone was, until I heard his voice._

"_HINATA!"_

_I turned to face Naruto, as he picked me up bridal style. "Let's go! We have to go!" I extended a hand toward my cousin and practically my sister's bodies on the floor. "But Tenten…and nii-san!" He shook his head. "Hinata…I'm sorry…they're dead!" I shook my head._

"_NO! IT'S NOT TRUE NARUTO! PLEASE!" He let out a long, grieving sigh and I realized that both of us were crying, his tears dripping lightly onto my shirt. "Hinata…they're gone…there's nothing we can do…" I shook my head and grabbed tightly to his shirt. "Naruto-."_

_"NARUTO! HINATA! LET'S GO!"_

_I took one last glance at Tenten's slowly dying form next to Neji's corpse and Orochimaru's sadistic smile before I was whisked around the corner and another loud bang resounded, drowning the ceiling in a hot blaze._

I shivered, and I felt Ino shiver as the tears rolled down my cheeks. "I…I sincerely hope that doesn't happen…" There was warmth in me, a weird warmth…and then, like a blazing fire it grew…

From inside me somewhere, I heard a deep gasp from Ino and I could feel her cover her mouth, seeing as it happened to me physically. "Hinata!"

I blinked a few times, wiping the tears. "Yes?" I felt the smile grace my lips as her emotion burst through. It was pride and happiness that was seeping from her to mine…

"Hinata…" I frowned. "What?" Her smile broadened on my own face. "You're not gonna believe what your element is…"

**Tenten  
**I let out a long sigh and crossed my arms as I stared at Hinata's ever changing face. She would speak to herself and then weird emotions would keep flickering on her face. She'd go from befuddled to proud, from confused to happy, from disbelieving to glowing. "I am?!"

The joy was dominant now, and she nodded to nothing in particular. "Damn, it's creepy how Ino makes a person look insane." Neji nodded, tightening his hold on me.

"Really?" A wide grin crept onto her face as her smile glowed.

And then…it was gone, and was replaced by absolute horror…

"It…it was?" She nodded to herself and her expression fell sad, and fearing. Letting go of Neji, I took a few tentative steps toward her, holding out my hand. And, as if a transparent force field were there, I touched a wall of something cold, so cold it burned, and I shot back a few steps. "Holy shit!"

Hinata's eyes opened for the first time during the conversation and her eyes glowed white, not their usual white silver, but white, as if someone had turned on a light in her eyeballs. They shined out across from her before her hands got into the recognizable sign and Ino shouted out, "RELEASE!"

Her eyes turned a bright blue as Ino exited her and into her own body. Her own blue eyes shot open and she got up from her position and stretched like a cat. She let out a small breath and stood up, turning to me and Neji, and giving us, for whatever reason, a sad look. "Tenten…you may want to grab on tight to Neji for this…"

I blinked and raised an eyebrow. "What the hell happened?"

She sighed and shook her head, placing a hand over her eyes. "Hinata's element is spirit itself…" I smiled. "Okay, that's great!" Ino shook her head. "No…the thing is…"

"I had a vision…" I glanced over at Hinata, who stood up, closing her eyes for a few seconds before opening them again, the glow in her eyes dispersing. "Excuse me?" She sighed. "I had a vision…in my dream…" I frowned and crossed my arms. "And?"

She bit her lip, as if hesitant to tell us what it had been. Ino was next to her in a heartbeat, arm around her shoulders, and Naruto hurried over and mimicked her. She spoke for Hinata. "You and Neji…don't make it out of the Orochimaru fight…at least…not alive…"

I blinked. "That's what it took so long to say? We know our chances, and we all know I'm not going down without a fight." They both shook their heads and spoke simultaneously. "No…this time…you gave in…you let yourself die…"

I blinked again and lost my balance for a second, having to grab onto Neji to not fall. "Are you fucking serious?" They nodded solemnly and I sighed deeply. "Well then…I guess that just means I'll just have to keep that in mind…cuz I know damn sure I'm not going down without taking that bastard with me…"

Hinata blinked at me and snapped her fingers. "Oh yeah! And Tenten, just so you have something against him…he called you an insolent and worthless orphan…"

I raised an eyebrow, a small smirk playing over my lips. "Insolent, I am…and orphan…sure as I'm a girl…worthless…" I paused and my smirk could only widen. "We'll see about that…"

----

**Sakura  
**I took in heavy breath as I looked at the moon. It shined brightly, stunningly, beautifully bright, looking like its own star compared to all the distant twinkling lights surrounding it. It reminded me of him, and the way those boys all looked so dull compared to him for me.

"_What's wrong?"_

With a sigh, I let my eyes close shut. The light from the moon wasn't blinding, like the sun's, but it was semi-confusing and made your eyes go blurry from how brightly it shone.

"_Nothing's wrong."_

Lies. All the lies…what did he have to hide? What was going on with him that he didn't want to tell me anything lately? He'd usually tell me what he was thinking about…since the offer Orochimaru'd given him, he'd seemed distracted.

"_No, really Sasuke, what's wrong?"_

He was always daydreaming, and Sasuke wasn't one to daydream. It was weird. It was like he'd fallen into a deep and unexpected case of autism. Almost nothing could snap him out of whatever it was he was daydreaming about.

"_It's nothing…just…a memory that's all…"_

Lies, dammit! I wrapped my arms around my bent knees in a sort of fetal position pose as I sat on the back deck to our little apartment. A sigh escaped me again as his image rolled by.

"_Sasuke, really what's-?"_

The conversation rolled back into my mind as the sound of a closing door reached my ears. On alert immediately, I stood up and quietly walked around the corner of the apartment. The boys were staying over again, so it was kind of weird to hear the door opening and closing like that.

The sound of feet slapping against the concrete of the sidewalk reached my ears soon after and I quietly crept along the grass, cursing it when it crunched at times. I looked around the next edge of the building to see the moon lighting up the back of spiky black hair. A green book-bag was perched on his shoulders, the straps in place. What was going on here?

I blinked, taking in the direction he was going in, and it hit me.

"_I told you…I'm fine…"  
_  
"Fine my ass…" I muttered. He was walking toward me, but not exactly to me, more in the direction I was in compared to his line of vision. His face was emotionless, indifferent, impassive. It was hard to believe that he'd kissed me so passionately just a few hours ago.

Boldly, and before I could change my mind, I stepped out in front of him. He raised his head to look at me, raising an eyebrow. "What're you doing up?" The question was cold and rude, so unlike him when he talked to me. He was usually playful. I didn't answer his question directly…I answered it with another.

"Where are you going?"

His gaze hardened as he looked at me. He didn't answer my question. He just pushed past me and kept walking toward the end of the street. "You should go to bed…" The sound of his feet slapping against the hard concrete sidewalk was like a slap in the face. Every step he took was like a blow to the heart.

With every step he took, he got just a bit farther, and I would let that happen if I just stood there like an idiot. I felt the familiar wetness in my eyes and bit back the tears, although this time it proved to be insufficient because they slipped down my cheeks anyway. I had to take action. I couldn't let him leave…I had to…

In a quick movement, I turned around and shot a question at him. "Why don't you ever tell me anything?" His answer came almost immediately, as if he'd been expecting me to ask it. "Why should _I_ have to tell _you_ anything?" That hurt, no, that stung. I bit my lip again as more tears slipped down. A little blood seeped out, but that barely bothered me as I let my lips quirk upwards into a small, sad smile. "You hate me, don't you?"

It hurt to say something like that, because I knew he'd kissed me with such a passion…but…maybe he wasn't what I'd wanted him to be…maybe he was just faking it. It was the only way to get him to stay a bit longer, while someone noticed that he was missing, or someone heard something. It was a diversion, I had to stall him, I had to get him to talk.

"Since the beginning, you've always hated me, haven't you?" I bit my lip for only a fraction of a second before going on. "That's why you went after me during the alliance…something about me set you off…you hate me…"

There was a pause, a long painful pause. The heavy silence was uncomfortable. Finally, he answered. "No…it wasn't because of that…"

I breathed shakily. "But you aren't denying anything. You aren't denying that you don't hate me." Another long silence, but I broke it this time. "That's when it all started though…all of us…Akuri Kaze with Kunai…" I bit my lip again but stopped to continue. "And you and me…" Memories of our training sessions together came rushing to me…

I remembered our first shooting training session…

I remembered our first stolen kiss in the hallway…and the second one too…

I remembered our little kiss in the forest…

Painfully, I remembered the passionate kisses shared behind the sakura tree in our backyard…

And even more painfully, I remembered the one we'd shared just a few hours ago…it seemed so magical to me, so full of passion…did it even mean anything to him?

"I know a few times it was hard…but you have to admit…in the end…it was pretty fun…"

There was more silence, and it killed me. Why wasn't he talking? What we he doing? Usually, he would've cracked some smart quip and then give me a smirk. Nothing. He did none of these.

"I know something's up Sasuke…but please…don't chase after Orochimaru for it! It's not worth it. It won't make anybody happy…not you…" I paused for a brief second. "And not me…"

I expected another long silence but there was none. "I knew it…" I blinked in confusion as more tears slipped down my face. He paused for a couple seconds before continuing. "I'm not like you guys…I can't aim for what you aim for…me? I'm an avenger…you guys…you only seek to kill him because of what he is doing to Konoha as a whole…but me? I'm killing my own target because I must get revenge on what he did to me…"

Confusion overtook me. Was he talking about Orochimaru, or was he talking about someone else? He continued. "I was fooled into thinking that I could take the same path as you guys, all of you, but…I realized…I can't…I'm an avenger…I seek power to exact my revenge on Itachi…in the end…I choose the path of revenge…"

Revenge. Revenge. Revenge. That was all I heard coming out of his mouth, nothing about _why _he was trying to exact that revenge.

There was silence between us. It was a silence that I broke with my sobs.

"Sasuke, I know you want revenge, but what's that going to do? Just please stay, I'd make it worth your while. You leaving is going to leave a lot of people upset…I have friends and…I have the girls who are like family but…if you leave…then…then I'll be truly lonely…" The tears fell like a water fall now, and I could see the wet spots that they left on the concrete, fat and huge. "So please…just stay…"

His gaze stayed forward through the next silence. "You haven't changed a bit." I looked up at him. "From the beginning I've thought you were weird…but now…" He looked back over his shoulder at me, a small smirk on his face, his gaze cold and hard. "You're just annoying…"

My heart broke. Whatever emotion had been in that kiss…all of those kisses, was most likely false passion and just plain hatred…that one phrase set the tone. My heart officially broke into a thousand pieces, pieces that could never be brought back together…

He began walking to the corner again, and I grew desperate to stop him. "Sasuke, please! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH I CAN'T EVEN STAND IT!" He stopped for just a fraction of a second before he continued to step forward. "DON'T LEAVE ME!" I took a few steps forward myself, but stopped and brought my hands up to my chin. "If you do…I'll…I'll scream and-!"

And just like that, he disappeared from in front of me. I blinked and looked around, before I felt a presence behind me. Damn our good training.

He spoke, his voice deep and a monotone, but some deep emotion hidden beneath the thick layers of indifference. "Sakura…"

I blinked as more tears slid down my face. A breeze rolled by and blew my hair to the sides, and I could imagine his bangs blowing in the wind with mine. Silence accompanied that wind for a half a minute before he spoke again.

"Thank you…for everything…"

I cried silently, but even harder than I had been before something came into contact with the back of my neck and I lost consciousness, everything going black.

'_Sasuke…why?'_

----

He caught her falling body easily as the words slipped out of her lips. "Sasuke…why?" Those words pained him. It hurt him to do what he did next. He took her up in his arms and walked back over to the porch, laying her there. He took one last glance at her, taking her in. He briefly reviewed every feature of her. Her beautiful pink hair that shined in the moonlight, her shining green eyes, now closed as a result of her unconscious state. Her porcelain face skin wet and streaked as a result of the tears that had slid down her cheeks that night. He took in the sad look on her face, a look he'd brought out. It made his decision that much harder to cope with. Trying not to let the regret and sadness deep within his heart take him over, he turned around and continued his path down the sidewalk and around the corner…down the path…

_of revenge…_

* * *

__

Well, it didn't take that long to put this up compared to before [well I was busy with Christmas and such so yeah] so I can safely say I'm proud of myself for submitting nearly 10000 words in little over a week :D

I sort of ODed on this chapter but that's okay...and Hinata's a spirit user! Boy, are you guys in for a crazy shock in the next chapter... *grins wickedly*

Anyway, all for now. Till next chapter :]


	21. Mission

**Chapter Twenty-One**

**Mission**

_Anybody could've told you  
Right from the start  
it's bout to fall apart_

_So rather than  
hold on to a broken dream or just  
Hold on to love  
__And if you find a way to make it  
Don't hold on too tight  
I'll make it without you  
Tonight - Alicia Keys; Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart_

----

He yawned and sat up straight scratching the back of his neck, and glancing down at the blond next to him, muttering a 'troublesome' in an undertone when he took in her cute sleeping form. Her lips were pouted in a tired sort of way and her long eyelashes and her little eyelids closed off those dazzling teals eyes from the world as she breathed deeply in sleep. Shaking his head, he yawned again, muffling it with a hand.

Taking a glance around the room, he noticed something. He was the only one awake. There was no sound of Sasuke and Sakura yelling, arguing, or talking or fighting in general, and, more importantly, there was no Sasuke or Sakura. At first thought, he was generating the idea of the two admitting their love to each other and doing the dirty in a closet or the bathroom or something, but he realized Sasuke was too stoic and Sakura too stubborn, so he pushed the idea aside.

With a slight frown, he got up and walked up the stairs to quickly brush his teeth and do his business before he silently came back down. His frown was still in place as he pursued the possibilities. Sakura had gone out last night but she'd never come back inside.

His eyes widening, he speed-walked over to the front door and pulled it open, and there lay the pinkette, her face bearing a worried and sad expression as she slept on the porch. His frown deepening, he walked over and knelt down next to her before lightly pushing her to the side. "Sakura…Sakura…Sakura you can't sleep here…Sakura you're gonna catch a cold…and where's Sasuke?" Asking wasn't such a bad idea.

Without much warning, the pinkette shot up and let out a scream. "Sasuke!" He stumbled back and placed a hand on his forehead, watching her in confused bemusement. She briefly scanned her surroundings, taking in the bright morning sun, the porch she was sitting on, who was next to her. Her shoulders shook as she grabbed at her arms, her sobs breaking through. "Sakura? What's wrong? Sakura?"

She shook her head and pulled him into a large hug that he was sincerely not expecting. "Shikamaru…S-Sasuke…he's…he's gone off to Orochimaru!" His eyes widened before they narrowed. "Shit…" He shot up, pulling her with him, and brought her into the house, her sobs still shaking her, but her tears coming out silently.

Panicking, he walked over to Neji and shook him lightly, as he had done to Sakura, who had kneeled down next to him. Considering the fact that he was always on alert, Neji shot up and rubbed his head from next to his girlfriend, looking around the room groggily before focusing fully on Shikamaru. "W-What's going on?" Shikamaru's face was hard. "Sasuke's gone off to Orochimaru…"

He blinked and stared at the crying Sakura and the hard-faced Shikamaru, and then he broke. "Shit!" Turning next to him, he started to shake his girlfriend, although as soon as his hand came close to touching her arm she shot up and threw a kunai toward the opposite wall, eyes wide. He raised an eyebrow, but shook it off. She grabbed at her heart and turned to look at him. "Don't do that! What's up?" He shook his head. "Sasuke's gone to Orochimaru…"

She was up in heartbeat, pulling out a gun from under the sofa and clicking back the safety. "I'm ready, let's go!"

He gave her the biggest 'are-you-fucking-kidding-me?' look that she'd ever seen in her life. She raised an eyebrow and smirked slightly in spite of herself. "I'm bringing that motherfucker back…and I'm taking down the other one while I'm at it…" Neji stood up and grabbed her upper arms. "You're not going…"

She raised an eyebrow and then let out a laugh. "Yeah, okay, that was funny Neji." He gave her a deadpanned look although his lips thinned into a line and she stopped her grin before it came up. "Oh…you were serious…" He nodded and she spoke again. "But Neji, I'm the leader of this entire alliance, it's only right that I go!"

He shook his head. "I don't give a fuck. The guy's originally on my gang and I'm going to save his ass from Orochimaru." Tenten crossed her arms defiantly and shook her head. "My ass, if you go, then I go!" He sighed and shook his head again. "Dammit woman why do you want to go so bad?"

She glared at him and pushed him off to the side before she walked over to the pinkette and wrapped her arm around her shoulders. "I know you may think that our relationship is spotty but I'd do _anything _to see one of my sisters happy again…"

----

**Tenten  
**Half an hour later, everyone was awake, the boys all wearing sweats and tank tops and some sneakers to go save Sasuke. Frowning and pursing my lips, I glared at the back of Neji's head and stuck out a middle finger, mouthing a giant '_fuck you!' _before crossing my arms across my chest and letting my frown stay in place. There was the sound of a small person plopping next to me and I knew who it was…Hinata.

"Umm…Tenten-chan…" I turned my head and smiled at her. "Yes?" She heaved a small sigh before playing with her fingers. "W…why do you think he did it?" I sighed myself and shook my head, closing my eyes to think. "Honestly…I don't know…it doesn't make sense to me why he would leave Sakura for Orochimaru…unless…" My eyes shot open as I punched my palm. "He swings the same way Orochimaru does!" Hinata slapped me on the arm. "No, you've seen the way he looks at Sakura." I pursed my lips in thought and then punched my hand again. "He swings both ways!" She shook her head. "He doesn't stare at men in that way…" I sighed. "I'm trying to find an explanation, you could at least let me revel in the ideas I come up with." She blushed lightly. "Umm, I'm sorry…" I laughed and pulled her to me. Even in all this, we could find a way to smile. "Hinata, don't worry, I was joking!"

She blinked and stared at me and blushed pink again. "Oh, sorry!" I laughed again. "Hinata, stop apologizing!" She giggled cutely and nodded. "Tenten…" I looked up to see Neji standing there, looking at me intently. "Yes? Can I help you?" He sighed but didn't sit down next to me. "You do understand why I don't want you to go?" I shook my head. "No…why exactly _don't _you want me to go?" He heaved another sigh and looked me square in the eyes. "I don't want you to go in there and get hurt…" I maintained my raised eyebrow as I crossed my arms and let one leg rest on the other. "Oh? Are you saying that I can't fend for myself? If anything, I've got a lot more experience fighting the bastard than you do!" His face hardened. "So what. When you come down to it, you're a girl. You don't have the same muscular capacity that we boys have."

I shot up from my spot, glaring him down. "Well I don't know if you've noticed this, _boy_…" I poked his chest accusingly and continued. "But whether you're a guy or a girl means nothing on the battlefield, hence the reason _we girls _lead this damn alliance! If it wasn't for us, you'd be damn clueless about all of this anyway!" His comeback came immediately. "Yeah, and maybe if we hadn't met you, this never would've happened in the first place." I gave him a cold glare. "Are you saying that _we're _the reason Sasuke left Sakura?" He glared right back at me. "No! I'm saying that _you're _the reason why everything in my life is so damn complicated and why it isn't going right!" My glare fell, my cockiness drying up. That one stung, like a burn being stung by a bee and then bitten by a ton of red ants in the heart.

His face softened once he saw my reaction and he tried to speak. "Umm…uh…Tenten look, I-…" I held up a hand and silenced him. A small, cold smirk coming to my face with the cruelest gaze I hadn't ever given to anyone except Orochimaru. "Fine then. If you wanna run off and get your ass kicked because you guys are too full of testosterone and too stupid to take your stronger female alliances with you then be my damn guest you fucktard. And don't come calling me if you end up needing help you dumbass!"

And with that said, I pushed him out of my way with a lot more force than necessary and walked away to the backyard, slamming the door behind me and letting the angry tears escape.

**  
Sakura  
**I bit my lip in anxiety. Sasuke had left last night so late, but even I knew that in the course of seven hours he could've gotten there, stated _why _he was there, joined the gang, and officially gone to the dark side with the very same guy we were working so hard to take down.

Blood trailed down my chin, but I ignored it. It wasn't that much of a big deal. My lip hurt from the cut but it was nothing compared to the sad, aching feeling in my chest. My heart was broken, officially broken. Karma's such a bitch…why? Why did it have to do this to me? I threw my head in my hands and let the tears escape.

'_I LOVE YOU SO MUCH I CAN'T EVEN STAND IT!'_

The words were so true…he didn't know just how true those words were…and are… Dammit, what did he do to me? Before-hand, I didn't even like him all that much, he was just a skilled fighter that we were using for the sake of our alliance…but over the past four and a half months…that changed…

I don't know how he didn't, nor do I care. He grabbed a hold of my heart, and he had such a tight grip on it, that seeing him go away like that was like my heart being squeezed till it popped. I grabbed at my chest, feeling the ache of the internal pain, and the need of wanting to have him by my side, to see his face again, to be able to kiss him again.

The back door slammed and I turned to see Tenten there, taking a seat on the porch, tears streaming down her face, something I didn't see too often. Although the tears streaked down like rivers, I recognized that face. She was hurt and mad, and just a tad bit frustrated. She let out an enraged scream and chucked a kunai at the tree. Sighing silently to myself, I stood up and walked over to her, forgetting about my own tears to comfort her. She heard me coming and her head shot up, a kunai at the ready in her hands. I pulled out my own kunai, just in case of anything, just in case she was so mad she'd be willing to throw stuff at me to get me to leave her alone.

But once she recognized my face, she let her kunai drop to the ground and threw her head in her hands as I had done just a little while ago. "Dammit!" It came out a little muffled, but other than that, it came out perfectly. Biting my lip, I sat next to her. "Tenten…what's wrong?" She shook her head, and wiped at her eyes, although more angry tears came out. "Damn that idiot, telling me I'm the source of all the complications in his damn life!" I frowned and blinked a few times. "Who?" Her gaze fell on me, looking me up and down, from my most likely messy, disheveled pink hair to my swollen red eyes and the tears streaming down my face, to my pajamas.

"Forget about it, what about you?" I bit my lip. As much as I wanted to pour my broken heart out to her, I couldn't, not seeing her in the state that she was in. Tenten was the one that would always hide her tears when she most wanted to cry, she was the one that would make _us _all smile even when the worst was happening. Well no, I wasn't going to let her do that this time. She needed to let her feelings out too, cry about whatever it was she needed to cry about, or else she'd never get past it and move on. So I shook my head and pointed at her. "You! You tell me what's going on with you!"

She looked taken aback, but she sighed and complied. "It's Neji…" I blinked and crossed my arms. "What the hell did that motherfucker do?" She cracked her knuckles menacingly, killing intent in her eyes. "He said that _I'm _the reason why nothing in his life is going right…trying to put the blame on me for Sasuke leaving…it isn't me…is it?" I shook my head quickly and took a hold of her hand. "No! Neji has no clue what he's talking about! If anything, you're the reason that they know so much, that they know how to fight better than ever, because of your decision they were able to grow stronger! So why in the hell would his dumbass put the blame on you?" I shrugged. "I don't know…but it's annoying the hell out of me! All I know is that Neji jumped on his menstrual cycle this morning and ran my ass over…"

Sighing, I shook my head. "I'm not going to lie and say I know how you feel, but I know what it's like to be hurt by a boy…" That snapped her back into mother-mode and she turned to me immediately. "Oh, Sakura! I'm so sorry! What about you?" She'd quickly switched the subject to my fucked up romance. "I'm fine…" I mumbled. "Bullshit! What's wrong?"I bit my lip and rubbed my arm, suddenly getting goose-bumps. Should I tell her, or should I not tell her?

"_I LOVE YOU SO MUCH I CAN'T EVEN STAND IT!"_

I couldn't get those words out my head and the feeling that came along with it, the feeling that continued to remind me that those words were so true, no matter how much my heart was aching and breaking right now. I bit my lip harder, chewing on it a little. This mental conflict was killing me. Should I tell her, or should I not tell her?

Taking a shaky breath, I realized I might as well; because knowing Tenten, she wouldn't leave me alone until she got her answer. "I…I told him I love him…" She blinked, her face going blank, although deep in her eyes I saw surprise. She was caught off guard, she wasn't expecting me to say that. Suddenly, her motherly instincts kicked in to full extent and she placed a hand on my shoulder, eyes looking concerned and so truthfully sweet and helpful and loving. She was like my older sister and mother at the same time, now matter how much we seemed to fight. "Are you absolutely positive that you love him though?" Feeling a tear slide down my cheek gently, I nodded. "There's not a doubt in my heart that what I felt was love…"

She sighed and looked me straight on, face going serious and caring. "Sakura, I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that he loves you back, even when it seems like he does, because I'm not exactly sure about how the male mind works, but I am going to tell you this…love is difficult…it never comes easy, and believe me when I say this…" A small, rueful smile crossed her face for a split second before I turned my gaze downcast. "It brings many tears…" Glancing up at her was probably a big mistake, because as soon as I saw her crying I couldn't help but letting my tears fall again. I wiped at my eyes but the damned water kept falling, dripping off my jaw and falling onto the grass out in front of us.

The sound of the door sliding opening put us both on guard and we snapped up, her with a few kunai drawn and me with my own kunai pulled out at my side. We didn't make any move when we saw Hinata there. "Tenten-chan…they are leaving now…" She looked at Hinata, looking innocent and slightly expectant of something, whatever it was. Tenten shrugged. "Let them leave. If your cousin is leading them then I'm sure they'll be just fine…" There was an angry touch to that, even if she kept her face completely emotionless. Hinata could read Tenten like an open picture book and she caught Tenten's hidden tone, but chose not to say a thing about it.

Sighing, I stood up and smiled at her. "I'd better go wish them luck. They are going after Sasuke, after all." My heart broke even more as the name left my mouth, but I kept up my smile. A hand on my shoulder stopped me for a few seconds. "Sakura, remember what I told you." I looked over my shoulder and smiled at her. "Yeah…I know…" She grinned at me all of a sudden. "We've got to research the male mind because they all seem so 'stick-up-the-ass' type now a-days!" I laughed. Even through all this, all the heartbreak, all the pain, Tenten could still find a way to make me smile.

I wiped my eyes as I walked through the kitchen and opened the door to the living room and walked in just in time to see them opening the front door. A sudden thought came to me, something so incredibly brilliant that they couldn't say no.

I rushed forward, stopping right behind them as Neji looked over at me. "What?" His gaze made me shiver a little, it was so scrutinizing, it was a wonder how Tenten fell in love with someone like him, although they did have their moments. I cleared my throat, feeling myself blush under the stares of all of the boys. "Umm…guys…I know it sounds weird but…I'd like to go with you guys…" I glanced up and instantly regretted it because all of the boys had these giant 'are-you-serious' looks on their faces. I sighed. "Look, I could be helpful! I can knock down doors, hack codes, and take down a whole bunch of guards while you guys look for him…" It sounded like I was naming reasons for a persuasive essay but right now I didn't care. Shikamaru shook his head. "Sorry Sakura, but no. You did your part. You tried to stop him and he didn't listen. Now we have to go and force his dumb ass back…"

I broke. "But-!" Naruto cut me off. "Sakura…" I blinked and looked over at him. His face was sad. He must've been feeling it too. Sasuke was his best friend and having him turn away from such a long friendship was almost as bad as having your heart broken… "I'll bring Sasuke back, even if I have to break all his limbs and drag him. I give you my word that he'll be back here with us soon." A smile broke out as the sound of the door closing reached my ears. From the corner of my eye, I saw Hinata shuffling over to stand next to me. She looked confused as Naruto held up a thumbs up. "I promise!" I didn't even notice that I was crying until Hinata handed me a tissue. Smiling, I dabbed at my eyes. "Thanks Naruto…" More tears slipped and I leaned forward and gave him an affectionate sort of hug, like one to a brother. He hugged me back before Neji spoke. "Can we leave now? The longer we wait the less time we have to bring him back…"

Sighing, I stepped back and nodded. "Go…oh wait!" Neji let out a groan as he turned back around to face me. "What?" I grabbed his shirt collar and leaned toward his face, an angry expression on mine. "I appreciate what you're doing for me but let me tell you one thing. Talk to Tenten like that again, just one more time, and it's your funeral, Hyuga." I tightened my grip on his shirt in pure anger. "She doesn't deserve to be spoken to like that. Either you respect her or you'll have to face me, because I don't go for that blame-game bullshit. If it wasn't for her, you wouldn't even know anything about these plans and you would've been just like any other helpless boy that's full of testosterone and that I'm-so-macho attitude shit and you would've gotten your ass whooped like the idiot that you were before you met us. If you fuck with her, you gonna have problems with me. You got that?" He glared me down, and my glare matched, if not overpowered his, as I pushed him back. He stumbled a few steps. "Now get the fuck out, do what you want. Just remember; we're the girls that can kick your asses any day!"

He continued to glare at me for a few seconds before he turned around and walked out the door. "Let's go…" Was his simple command and all the boys, save for the still-injured Lee, followed him. The door slammed shut and Lee spoke. "He is going to do it." I turned to look over at him, confused. "What?" He smiled. "Naruto is going to do it. I just know it. He gave you the good guy smile. He will get it done." I smiled back and walked over to give him a hug. "Thanks Lee…now…let's see if Tsunade's willing to do a surgery." I grabbed his hand and carefully pulled him to the couch as I reached for my cell phone.

**  
Karin  
**Biting down hard on my lip, I walked into the living room, seeing Sakura talking to someone on the phone animatedly. Little bits and pieces of the conversation flowed back to me.

"-neck and now he's chipped a few bones and the operation required-" She was cut off by the person on the other line, and she nodded after a few seconds. "Mm hmm. The problem is I'm not as experienced as you, so I was wondering if you would-" The other person cut her off again and again she nodded after a few seconds. "Yup…" Her face fell at whatever it was the person on the other line was saying, eyes going sad. Then, out of nowhere as the person kept talking, her face lit up. "Really?" There was the sound of confirmation on the other line and Sakura let out a small squeal. "Thank you so much!" She bit her lip to hold back another squeal and nodded. "Okay! Will do! Thank you! Bye!" She hung up and punched the air before turning to Lee. "Looks like we've got you an operation date…" He blinked and looked at her before a smile broke out on his face. "Really?" Sakura nodded enthusiastically before she threw her arms around Lee and gave him a huge hug. "Lee, I'm so happy! Now you're gonna be able to fight again!" From the look on his face, he would've been more than happy to be able to lift his arms and hug her back but he couldn't, so he just settled for smiling at her when she pulled back.

I stepped into the middle of the living room, making myself known. "So, I presume that the person you were just speaking to on the phone was Tsunade…" Sakura looked at me, beaming, and nodded. "Yup, and she said that she's more than willing to do the operation and that she'll practice in order to decrease the death risk…" I sat down next to her. "So what's the cause of death in such a surgery?" She let out a long sigh. "Disconnection of the spine to the nerves in the brain which could lead to failure of response from the body. He could stop breathing and just die out…or…he could lose a lot of blood during the operation and we wouldn't find enough blood in his blood type to be able to nurse him back…" I nodded. "Oh…well, in the meantime, I have a way of relieving some of the pain." I looked over at him. "May I?" He gave a small nod, which ceased because of the pain, so he settled with saying, "Yes." I switched spots with Sakura and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You've got to turn around for this…" He complied and turned so that his back was facing me. He grunted in pain a little as he sat back down. I chewed on my lip a little as I placed my hand on his back, feeling the disruption of his bones.

Closing my eyes, I focused my spiritual energy and sent it to my hand to slowly generate out into Lee's tightened muscles and chipped bones. He squirmed a little as I began to flow my spiritual energy into him, alleviating the pain. A soft sigh escaped his throat. "Thank you, Karin. The pain is gone now thanks to you." I nodded as I pulled my hand back. "No problem…" His smile showed me he was semi-grateful as I stood up and shot him a smile of my own before walking into the kitchen. In the kitchen was an upset Tenten, Hinata, and Sakurambo. I smiled at them and glanced at the seat next to Sakurambo. "So what's up?" Tenten fisted the table-cloth. "I'm gonna kill Neji, _that's _what's up!" I blinked and raised an eyebrow. "What'd he do to you?" She shook her head and let go of the linen. "It's nothing…" She sighed and rested her head against her hand. Shrugging it off, I walked over to the table and pulled out a chair, turning it backwards and taking a seat on it like that, letting my legs hang over the side of the chair comfortably.

Tenten let out a small laugh, covering her mouth. I blinked and raised an eyebrow, adjusting my glasses. "What?" She shook her head and raised a finger. "I'm sorry but, you look so pornographic with your legs spread so wide open." Blushing, I raised my middle finger before turning the chair around straight and sitting in it correctly. She let out another laugh as Hinata and Sakurambo let out little giggles. I smiled and folded my hands, placing them on the table and giving the girls a smile. "Okay…guess what…" They raised their eyebrows at me. "Okay, I can see no one's going to say what so I'll say it myself. Tsunade agreed to the operation…she's gonna do it." Their faces lit up happily. Sakurambo clapped her hands together, evidently the happiest out of all of us. "Really?" She grinned widely as I nodded and let out a loud squeal. I blinked and pressed a hand to my ear. "Damn, you _do _share a mind with Sakura…she did the same thing when Tsunade agreed."

Sakurambo, in turn, giggled and got up. "I'm gonna go talk to Sakura." Her smile suggested she wasn't really going to see Sakura, more like she was going to go shower Lee with hugs and kisses. Shrugging off the idea, I turned back to Tenten and Hinata, giving them a full on look. Tenten raised an eyebrow before sighing. "I can't believe that chicken-ass-haired bastard left Sakura like that…"

The feeling in the pit of my stomach came back, the very same feeling I had last night when I'd heard Sakura scream out to Sasuke.

"_I LOVE YOU SO MUCH I CAN'T EVEN STAND IT!" I shot up, eyes going wide as I heard Sakura scream. Rushing to the window, I reached into the holster that I'd slung around my waist and pulled out my gun, holding it with two hands down against my legs, clicking back the safety with a soft 'click'. Frowning, I raised a hand and pulled back the curtains on the window. _

_My mouth fell open as I saw Sakura standing there, crying, as Sasuke slowly walked away from her, face impassive and uncaring, but even from this distance I could easily see through his eyes the way it killed him inside to walk away from her, even after such a confession. Glaring daggers at the back of his head, I couldn't help but think that I was happy I faked everything I'd ever felt for him. "Dammit…is he insane?" I whispered to myself._

_Suddenly, he disappeared from in front of her, appearing behind her as quiet and calm as night under the moon that lit up the road they were on. I couldn't hear what he said to her, but I could easily see his hand shoot out and hit her in the back of the neck. She began to fall, unconscious, but he caught her easily and walked back over to the porch. His eyes strayed around him, making sure no one saw him, and as his eyes landed on the window, I shot around, my back to it, letting the curtains fall closed. I took a silent, deep breath. "Okay, breathe Karin, breathe. Wait a few seconds, and then go after the bastard…" I told myself, trying to calm my nerves. I was going to go after him, I had to._

_He didn't know what the hell he was doing going off to Orochimaru so easily, but I did. He was basically signing his death bill, because Orochimaru only wanted him to hold back the rest of the gang he was coming from, so Orochimaru himself would live through the attack, and if that meant killing Sasuke in the process, he didn't mind doing it. I wasn't about to let that happen though, so I counted to myself inside my mind. 'One.' Sasuke was going to get himself killed going to Orochimaru. 'Two.' And Orochimaru wouldn't give a fuck. 'Three.' Although I did know that Orochimaru was going to train him to become stronger. 'Four.' His only reason for doing so was simple though. 'Five.' He wanted Sasuke to take down as many as he could before he went down himself._

_Sighing quietly, I peeked out the curtains to see Sasuke's retreating form turning the corner. Glaring daggers at his back, I let the curtains fall back into place before walking over to the door and pulling on some black heeled boots under my pajamas and pulled on some cool Maui Jim sun glasses before slipping on my black trench coat and adding another gun into the deep pocket. I grabbed a few bullet cartridges that Tenten kept near the door and shoved them into my other pocket roughly before turning around and opening the door softly, making sure to not make even the slightest noise, because even that would make the leader of Kunai snap up, and I couldn't have Tenten knowing about this, at least not just yet._

_Tip-toeing, so that my boots didn't make their 'click'ing sound, I made my way out the door and shut it closed quietly, feeling satisfied when it shut without a sound. Turning back around, I glanced down at Sakura's body, automatically feeling sorry for her. Her tears still streamed down her face as she cried to herself in her unconscious sorrow. The hurt was evident in her face. She'd really meant what she'd said. Although her love for him was damn obvious, I couldn't help but feel shocked as those words replayed in my head, shooting fire and rage through me. Oh yeah, this motherfucker was going to pay._

_It may not have seemed like it much at the beginning, but I'd been watching out for Sakura at a distance, growing to love her as a sister would, even if she completely hated me at the beginning for the lie I'd submitted her to about killing Sasu. It hadn't been me. Sure, I'd been standing in front of him and pulling the trigger on the gun, but there were no bullets. Ami did all the dirty work, using a sniper from a distance to gun him down through the heart, making it look as if I'd done it. It was the perfect murder to hurt her most, but I had to gain Ami's trust in order to get the juice and dirt on her gang and Orochimaru's._

_Stepping over Sakura's body carefully, I jumped the three steps on the porch and ran down the street, ignoring the 'click' of my heels as I ran. I rounded the corner and continued on down. I knew where Orochimaru's place was so I didn't need to be right behind Sasuke to know where he was going, even if I knew he couldn't have gotten far at the pace that he was going._

_And I was right. I caught sight of him just as I turned another corner. I shot back around the brick wall of the building on the corner and caught my breath, trying to conceal my presence. I didn't need him knowing that I was tailing him, much less know that I was trying to bring him back home. He was smart, he was, but I knew him front to back. Orochimaru had made me research the guy, and acting as an obsessed stalker-type fan-girl helped me know how he acted, his intelligence levels, his ability to learn how to pick up a person's presence, his sight, his hearing, his sense of smell. I knew so much dirt on the guy it was sickening, but I was now grateful for the information as I stood behind that building, taking in slow deep breaths to satisfy my lungs and my need for silence and stealth. _

_Looking back around the brick wall, I saw that the street was empty. Feeling suspicious, I pursed my lips and stepped out onto the sidewalk of the new street as quietly as I could. I made my way down the walkway, not once catching a sight of him, but noticing all the gaps and alleyways that ran through this run-down part of Konoha. _

_Strong arms wrapped around my mid-section, and I fought back a scream successfully as Sasuke pulled me into the alleyway. Turning around, I brought my fist to his cheek, and smirked as I successfully landed a blow on him. He let out a small grunt and fell back against the wall of the wide alley. "What the hell are you doing following me?" From behind my Maui Jim sunglasses, the alley was darker than usual, but luckily they were sunglasses with augmentation for my eyes, so I was able to see him clearly. Darkly, but clearly, and it was ironic how the description seemed so fitting._

_Looking at him directly behind my sunglasses, I smirked at him. "Bringing you back home, dumbass…" He rolled his eyes. "I had to keep down Sakura, and now I have to bring down the other fan girl…" His voice was cold, but at Sakura's name, his voice cracked only the slightest. My smirk withstanding the remark, I inched toward him slowly, my glare the only thing that showed how much damage I was willing [and intending] on doing to him to bring him home. "Listen, Sakura's no fan girl. We both know it, especially you, who seemed so torn about leaving her on the porch like that…" He glared at me. "You're a stalker at heart. How long have you been watching me?" I shrugged. "Long enough to know that somebody like you is willing to do anything to get your revenge, even if it means signing your death sentence…"_

_Glaring at me completely, he edged forward, toward me, but I pushed him back against the wall and got so close to him it was a miracle we had space to breathe. I flashed my index finger in his face. "Orochimaru's only using you. He wants you to take down as many of your friends as you can, and he intends on making you strong enough to take down at least ninety percent before dying off yourself…" His face seemed angry, but not disbelieving. "And what makes you so sure I can't get rid of all of you?" I smiled now, feeling the hatred bubbling over in me, but not letting it control me. "You won't be able to kill Sakura…"_

_He smirked now and reached out and grabbed my hair. I let out a small cry in pain as he pulled it up by the ends. "You're probably right, but that doesn't mean I'm not more than willing to kill you!" Glaring at him as he threw me back, making me stumble, I cracked my knuckles, looking up from under my sunglasses. "You won't be able to kill her if she kills you first!" I reached out and aimed a punch to his face, but he dodged and I tried to kick him in the gut. I succeeded, but only slightly, getting him not as hard as I'd wished I could. "Or if I kill you first!" He glared up at me, arm wrapped around his own waist for a second as the impact of my heel struck him. He shook his head, a small smirk playing onto his pale lips. "You won't be able to kill me." _

_Letting the hate for this kid boil over, I pulled out the first gun from the holster on my waist and pointed it at him. He seemed unfazed as I clicked back the safety. "What makes you so sure?" He smirked at me for some reason as I pointed the gun directly at his head. "One shot. Just one shot and you'll be dead." He shook his head and his cold gaze met my own. "How much you wanna bet that you won't do it because you don't want Sakura upset…"_

_I shrugged. "You're probably right." I dropped the gun lower to aim at his shoulder instead. "But that doesn't mean I'm not more than willing to injure you enough to bring you home writhing in pain…" His smirk never faltered. "You won't be able to do that…" I narrowed my eyes at him. "Try me!"_

_Cold metal touched the side of my head and I gasped out in surprise as a familiar voice met my ears. "I will bitch…" I would've turned my head, but knowing the bearer of the voice's nature, I would be dead if I even tried. I didn't need to look, however, to recognize that slimy, whiny voice. "You fucking bitch. I swear Ami, once he's down, you're dead…" I could feel her smirk as she leaned in and pinched my cheek. "That's if you can get out of this predicament." I chewed my bottom lip and brought my gaze over to see Sasuke looking at me intently. His face held a smirk, but his eyes betrayed him. He had no intent on killing me or even hurting me, and he hated Ami with a passion, but he couldn't say a thing. He had to keep his façade up, to try and convince me otherwise._

_I shot back as cold a reply as I could muster to Ami. "I don't give a fuck about this. I can whoop your ass with your gun to my head." I could imagine her face twisting into one of amusement. "How much you wanna bet?" I smirked lightly. "My life." And with that I elbowed her in the gut. The gun fell out of her hand and clanked to the ground as she doubled over in pain. I turned and kicked her straight up, making sure my heel got her in the face. There was a sickening 'crack' and I saw blood spurt out her nose. "Shit! You fucking bitch!" _

_"Ah, shut the _fuck _up!" And with that being said I elbowed her in the temple and she fell unconscious, her blood still spilling out her nose. I turned to Sasuke. "Your turn, pretty-boy…" He smirked at me and sauntered over, placing a hand on my cheek. "You know, if you'd still been acting like a fan girl, you'd be blushing like a tomato right now." I slapped his hand away from my face. "Stop trying to seduce me, cuz I know damn well that you love Sakura…" His eyes flashed pain for a minute but he covered it quickly, his smirk faltering for only a fraction of a second. "Who told you such a thing?" I glared at him coldly. "Anyone with eyes could see that!" His smirk turned to a frown and I spoke again. "Why in the hell did you leave? You love her too much to just drop everything and leave like you're doing right now…" His frown turned to a glare. "Stop acting like you know me!" I shrugged. "I do know you…I know that there's got to be some big reason that makes you want to leave so badly…leave someone you have such feelings for…"_

_I didn't even notice his fist till it was in my gut and making me double over in pain. He glared at me as he walked over to Ami, picking up her unconscious form. "Shut the fuck up and leave me the hell alone…" I winced, my eye closing halfway in pain, as I looked up at him, panting, as he took off down the street with Ami on his back. I ground my teeth together and let my fist hit the wall behind me sideways. "Dammit!" Angry tears streamed down my face from under my Maui Jims. "Fucking bitch." I coughed up a little blood and it dripped down my chin. I couldn't go after him. I had to admit that waking up so late at night [or early in the morning, whatever] made me want to pass out right there. Even I knew that I had to get home and rest up before I could even try to go after him again. _

_Groaning in defeat, I turned and walked out of the alley, retracing my steps to go back home, focusing my energy to try and at least heal the internal bleeding before I got there._

I shivered at the memory and Tenten turned to look at me. "What's wrong?" I shook my head. "Nothing…I just…remembered something disturbing…" She nodded and spoke again. "Speaking of disturbing occurrences, anyone seen the cartridges I keep near the door?" I shook my head, along with the rest. I couldn't tell them about my chase after the idiot just yet. I had to keep it silent until they most needed the information.

Tenten sighed and crossed her arms, pouting. "Damn…I wonder where the hell they went…those were my favorite bullets…nine millimeter and friction induced to gain heat from the energy released from the gun so that it sears through skin if the person is only clipped…" I winced and was suddenly mad at myself for not actually firing at Sasuke when I had the chance. A shot like that would've easily brought even him down.

"Tenten…" She blinked and looked up at me, and then smiled. "What?" I shook my head, a small smile playing on my lips. "I have to hand it to you…" She raised an eyebrow, repeating through her eyes her previous word. "You have the best taste in weaponry…" She grinned. "Hell yeah I do. Best believe it…"

**  
Neji  
**Pain shot up my arm as another knife scraped it. Fighting a wince, I lunged forward at the guy I was currently fighting and uppercut him, smirking in satisfaction as he fell back with a loud groan of pain. I dodged a punch from another random body guard and tripped him. He landed face first onto the hard tiled floor.

My smirk never faltered as I turned the corner to my right and shot at all the bodyguards that came my way. Naruto, Shikamaru, and Kiba ran into the hallway from behind me and started taking down bodyguards by hand, saving their bullets just in case of anything bad. I shot at another bodyguard that came my way, satisfied when the bullet pushed through the skin of his arm. He dropped to the floor, holding it and groaning in pain.

Searing, killer pain shot through my shoulder and I let out a small grunt of pain as something hit my shoulder. I could feel the blood spewing out, but I had no time to worry about that. I turned around to face the next body guard head on. To say that he was tall was the understatement of the century. The guy was at least six foot four and more than a foot taller than me. His arms were rough with raw muscle and his smirk adorned his face competitively. His hair was tied back into a ponytail, dark eyes burning through me. "Gotcha, you brat…" I glared at him and brought up my gun, shooting at him a few times. My aim was off because of the wound in my shoulder, but I couldn't give up on this.

He smirked again as the bullets all missed him and brought up his own gun, leveling it with my gut. "Get ready…" And with that said, he pulled back the trigger and got me straight in the gut. I gasped out in pain as blood spurted out my stomach, the bullet going through everything. The wound was deep, and it hurt like hell. Through half closed eyes, I looked up at him in pain. His smirk was growing steadily wider.

I dropped the ground, but not before taking one last shot at him, and successfully getting him in the chest. He wasn't going to live through that. I let my gun slide across the floor and gasped in air needily, yet pointlessly. I wasn't going to live. This wound was too bad. There was no way. And the only thing that my mind completely processed was beautiful brown eyes and adorable panda buns. '_Tenten…'_ Her image drifted through my thoughts as I lay there on the floor, bleeding heavily. "NEJI!" Naruto's voice rang out as he ran over to me and dropped down beside me. "NEJI!" I looked up at him, eyes clouding over slightly. "Get your ass moving and get Uchiha!" He looked down at me. "But what about you dammit?"

I tried to shrug, but my shoulder was in searing pain, so I let out a grunt. "Just go!" He frowned at me, but nodded and got up, shooting down the guards, before running off after Shikamaru and Kiba. _'Tenten…damn…'_

My thoughts only consisted of her as my eyes got heavy and slowly drifted closed. My breathing slowed, and the world around me went dark as my coherent thoughts only came up with one phrase. '_Tenten…I love you…'_

* * *

_Tan tan tan! The cliff-hanger of doom! Betcha you saw that coming too! lmaoo! Well yes, sorry for the sucky ending but I had to finish this up before I went to bed last night to be able to post it up today...so yes...it might be a little (Translation* Very) crappy but don't worry. Next chapter is when all the kickass action comes in ;] in other words, next chapter is...Well let me not spoil the surprise lmaoo I'm so mean lmaoo Like Cruela times ten but that's fine with me sometimes =]_

_And feel free to call me a bitch for this...I embrace that title lmaoo ilikecoffee...and...ilikeesugarycereal lmaoo _

_Thanks to all who read and review please =]_


	22. Injury

**Chapter Twenty-Two  
Injury**

_  
And if only you know  
What I felt for you  
You would've held on tighter  
Fought a little harder  
Been a little smarter  
And now you're gonna miss my love_

_And one day soon you'll see  
You'll reach out for me  
Boy you had a keeper  
Didn't know how to treat her  
And now you're gonna miss my love – Ciara; My Love_

----

It killed him. Deep inside, he knew how much it hurt him, but he just didn't want to admit it to himself. All he wanted to do right now was push it way back down where it came from, but the image just kept coming back up. _Her_. _She_would come into his mind and plague his thoughts. Her short pink hair which framed her porcelain cheeks and perfect face, her straight button nose and rose pink lips, her stunning and cute green eyes, shining so beautifully with joy and life. He imagined them to be sad and lifeless. "_I LOVE YOU SO MUCH I CAN'T EVEN STAND IT!" _Those words still rang through his mind, driving him insane. But he had to snap himself out of it, he had to stay here. This is where he belonged, he couldn't leave. He was an avenger.

His mind was made up. He lifted his head to face the blue-eyed blond before him, another heartbreak. Such a long friendship, and he was throwing it away. He realized what sacrifices he was making by doing what he was doing. "Why?!" The blond shrieked, only to get an emotionless façade. But that was all it was, a façade, a mask. "Sasuke, why!?" He smirked, and it pained him. "I'm done playing like little kids, pretending to be some little Mafia gangster…I'm staying here, with Orochimaru…I _belong _here." The blond gritted his teeth together and shouted again. "What the hell are you talking about?! You need to come back home! Do you even care that you left Sakura-chan out on the porch like that, where she could've so damn easily been raped or killed or both?! Do you realize the kind of state that she's in?! DO YOU EVEN GIVE A FUCK?!"

It killed him. Every single word was like a stab to the heart, and it hurt him so bad. He wanted so desperately to go back, to apologize a thousand times and beg her to forgive him, to apologize to his best friend, but he went against it. "Not really…" Lies. All lies. Everything he was saying was a damn lie. He meant absolutely _nothing_. All his words were hollow, empty, fake. He meant _none _of it. From where he was standing, all the way at the other hand of the hall, he saw his blond best friend clench a fist. "DAMMIT SASUKE!" And he shot forward in anger, running toward him. Said guy only dodged the attack and raised an eyebrow. It made his best friend so damn angry. "SASUKE! DAMMIT"

He aimed for another punch and missed, but he did get him with a quick blow from the other hand. Sasuke fell on his back and he felt someone on top of him. He looked up to see blue eyes piercing deep into his own. He felt it there. He felt the brotherly connection, the grief, the pain, the sorrow, the anger, the hurt, the upset and confused feelings. _Everything_. And he couldn't help but feel the same way, but he hid it. "Naruto…" He looked straight up at his best friend's face before smirking when said boy raised a fist at ready. "You wouldn't dare…" Naruto ground his teeth together and let his fist fall.

Sasuke waited for the impact as the fist came, but it didn't happen. It hit the floor next to his head. "Damn right I would!" Sasuke's cruel smirk widened on its own. He didn't want it to, but it did, and he hated himself for it. The same pain that his brother had caused him as a little kid, he saw that same pain in his best friend's eyes right now, and he'd seen it just the night before; the night he'd left. "Then do it…" He challenged.

And Naruto did…letting his fist run across Sasuke's face hard, to the knuckle, dissatisfied when he saw the blood shoot out of his mouth. And then, the one thing he thought he'd never see Sasuke do Sasuke did indeed do. He smiled and shot up, punching him back, sending him flying, before getting up. "Let's go then…"

----

**Karin  
**It seemed like night had come so damn early. Neji and his gang still hadn't come back and the moon was slowly appearing as day dissolved into night. I looked over at Sakura and Sakurambo, who were talking to each other animatedly about Lee's operation. I could see right through Sakura's smile. She wasn't really _there_. She was feeling empty; _hollow_, but she didn't want anyone to worry. Well that was bullshit!

Feeling something overcome me that I couldn't quite place, I walked over to her and tapped her on the shoulder, giving her a sweet smile. "Sakura, could I talk to you for a minute?" She looked suspicious but she smiled back and nodded. "Sure thing." And she got up and followed me out into the backyard. I let her out first and then shut the door behind us. Once I heard the hard '_clunk'_ of the wall meeting the end of the door, I whipped around to face her.

"Okay, what the hell is up with you? I know you want to cry badly so why the hell aren't you?" She shook her head and sighed. "Is it that obvious?" I nodded. "Hell yes it is…now why in the hell are you trying to stop yourself from crying?" Sakura bit her lip and released a sigh. "Crying is a sign of weakness…I've learned that over a few years. I've cried too much, and I'm not going to cry over him anymore. I don't care how bad my tears want to fall and how much I want them to, I'm not letting them. I'm not going to cry." I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms. "And you think _that's_ gonna make it any better?"

She frowned and crossed her own arms. "It has to…" I shook my head. "Sakura, you're not going to feel any better if you keep biting back your emotions. Bottling them up like that isn't good for your mental health…you've got to let them out when they need to be let out…" She nipped her lip and shook her head. "I don't want to look weak though…looking weak makes me feel stupid, and makes me want to punch something and damn right when I punch something with that much anger and frustration, I'm gonna break that something…whatever it is." She sighed and her gaze met the floor. My arms dropped to my sides. "Well crying isn't a sign of weakness…it's a sign of strength…"

She looked back up at me, surprised. "What do you mean by that?" I sighed. "Crying shows strength. Think about it this way; everyone tries not to cry because they think it makes them look weak, right?" She nodded, still not getting where I was headed; hell I barely knew where I was headed! "So they hold back their tears because they think that if they look weak that they'll be ridiculed, am I right or am I wrong?" She nodded once and I continued. "So to be able to let your tears fall freely, to be able to actually show _emotion_ is strength in itself, because you had the balls to do what others wouldn't dare. Not to mention the fact that you're the only one that'll actually stay sane…"

Her lips quirked upward into a small smile and she jumped forward and hugged me. "Thank you Karin…" I nodded and hugged her back quickly before pulling back. "Now if you don't mind me asking, why in the hell do you want to cry in the first place? I mean, I understand that you love him but it's not like he's going to be there forever. The guys went to go get him and bring him back." A soft sigh escaped her. "That's just it. It's because I'm worried that…they're not gonna be able to bring him back…believe me when I say Sasuke's a fighter…and what I've learned about him while he's here is…" She broke off and her gaze fell downcast again. "What?" She glanced back up at me, blood trailing from her lip from her biting it so hard. "He'll fight _anyone _to get what he wants…" Pain flashed through her eyes, as if she was remembering something and she shook her head.

"What do you mean he'll fight _anyone?_" Her gaze met mine and a chill ran up my spine, sending shivers throughout my entire body. "He'd even be willing to fight one of his best friends to stay with Orochimaru for power…" I froze and then scowled. "Shit…then we've got a problem…" Her eyes flitted from looking at me to looking away.

'_And knowing Ami, she'd be more than willing to help any pretty boy that wanted to join Orochimaru…and so would Shiho, Tayuya, and Hanara…them bitches will do anything for any cute boy…_' The knowing thought ran through my mind and I knew it was incredibly true. All of them were heartless, which is why they were so willing to kill each other's "crushes" without hesitation. They were all two-faced and phony as ever, a reason for me turning my back on Ami in the sixth grade. Add that to the fact that they hated each other, no matter how nicely they acted toward each other, they absolutely despised each other. The only reason they formed a gang was because of one common goal; power. They wanted to be widely known, and they were all given an offer that they just couldn't resist. The only ones in that gang that were close were Tayuya and Shiho, who'd both been raped by Tayuya's dad (and they'd both killed him off that night too).

And then another thought bubbled in my mind, one that made me smirk suddenly. "We've gotta talk to Tenten…" She looked back at me immediately. "Why? About what?" I smirked. "About a certain mission that we girls must embark on…" Her gaze met mine and she caught what I meant by it. Her eyes went wide and then she smirked. "Oh hell and yes bitch! Let's do this shit!"

xX----Xx

Tenten raised an eyebrow as she pondered the idea. I waited impatiently for her answer, wanting to know so badly what it was that she was going to decide. Her lips were pursed in thought, eyes narrowed and brows furrowed into a frown as she sat on the couch. It was dark in the room, save for the moonlight that was peeking through the windows. It illuminated one side of her face, leaving the other side bathed in darkness. A sigh escaped her lips and she looked down at me, almost apologetic. "Karin, that plan is too crazy…" I slapped my forehead and shook my head. "No! We have to-!" She cut me off by holding up a hand. "I never said we weren't going to do it…" I blinked and looked at her hand, then at her lips that were now curled into a cocky, excited smirk, and I smirked myself.

She shot up from her spot on the couch and started shouting orders. "Get dressed; out of your PJs. I don't give a fuck if we all just took a shower. We're about to take a bloody one so let's go!" She was up the stairs by "g" and in her room by "o" while we all followed behind her. I'd brought some of my stuff with me so I didn't have to worry about not having any clothes, and I could always go max out the platinum credit card we'd taken from that idiot that wanted to screw Ami (ew!) which I'd taken from them…of course…he gave them two so I didn't have to worry about anything.

Charging up into the room I now shared with Tenten and Hinata, I quickly rummaged through the closet, seeing Tenten halfway out of her pajamas and into her new black outfit. Hinata was right next to me, pulling out anything of hers that was black; that kept her concealed. The moonlight was enough to run on to illuminate the room and I quickly pulled out a long-sleeved black shirt, some black skinny jeans, and some black Timberland boots. They had no heels, so I could be perfectly concealed and quiet. Surprised? Not all of my shoes are heeled you know.

Throwing off my pajamas, I pulled on the clothes quickly, pulling my glasses on quickly yet easily, to make sure to not break them. I took a quick glance in the mirror, and, satisfied, picked up the gun from the dresser and shoved it into the holster around my waist before I grabbed a few bullet cartridges and darted down the stairs, where most of the girls were already waiting for the remaining ones.

Downstairs was Tenten standing in between Temari and Hinata, sporting a black Aeropostale shirt with Est. 87 written in cursive in white across the chest, her own pair of black skinny jeans, of course some of her infamous black cut-off gloves, and some black and white Jordan's. Temari was standing with a plain black Hollister shirt that cut low but not too low, with long sleeves, a pair of black skinny jeans, and ankle-high boots. Her hair was pulled in its usual four bunches; not like she did anything else in her hair anyway. Hinata was wearing a cute black lace shirt that went down to her mid-thighs. Under, she had on cute black leggings and a pair of black, tall Uggs. She looked so adorable that I had to resist the urge to squeeze her half to death. She was so cute!

"Waiting on Sakura, Sakurambo, and Ino?" They nodded and Temari and Tenten sighed. "I swear if we ever depended on them to save us in a time lapse of ten minutes or we'd be killed I think they'd take ten minutes to pick out an outfit, another hour to actually get ready, then take fifteen minutes to drive there then take the last ten to kill everyone in there and then discover that we've been dead for an hour and fifteen minutes…" She laughed, but only to have a fist connect with the top of her head; Sakura's fist to be more exact. "Yeah shut the fuck up! We're ready now!" I looked them over.

Of course, Sakura and Sakurambo were both wearing identical Abercrombie and Fitch shirts with their own black skinny jeans and low Uggs. Ino was wearing black baggy skinny jeans with a Hollister shirt in black and short boots. I raised an eyebrow. "We're all wearing tight skinnies and you come in here with those baggy ass jeans!" She grinned. "I stole these from Tenten's room when she wasn't looking." "YOU DID WHAT?!" Tenten, from next to me, leaned forward and punched Ino on the top of her head, recovering from her short-lived headache rather quickly. "Never raid my closet without my permission!" Ino growled and crossed her arms, but nodded anyway. I sighed. "We gonna get going now, yes or no?" Tenten nodded and Temari was out the door in a heartbeat. I blinked. "Where's she going?" Tenten grinned. "She's turning on the car. It's her rule. If it's just our gang then she'll go turn on the car and give us a minute to _all _get in the car cuz if we don't she leaves us by foot and drives down two blocks and we've got five minutes to get there and into the car…but that hasn't happened yet and I don't want it to so let's get our asses moving!"

And we were all out the door like that, pushing and shoving each other into the car. I realized that there wasn't going to be enough space for me or Sakurambo. "Where the hell do I sit?" Tenten looked behind her from already being settled in the passenger's seat. "You can sit right in the middle. Hinata can sit on Ino's lap and Sakurambo can sit on Sakura's lap; as simple as that…Geez do I have to do everything around here?" I glared at her but scooted into the middle of the three seats in the back, seeing Sakura sit down next to me while Sakurambo sat on top of her lap. On my right Ino was getting into the car and after she sat down, Hinata sat down on her lap. Well it's not like some lesbian type shit; it's just a matter of limited space.

As soon as the last door was shut closed, Temari sped forward onto the street, getting beeps from all the cars she passed. "I never got to say that that plan you came up with is dumb retarded…but I love it!" I laughed at Tenten's comment. "Well then I'm glad I could please you…" She shook her head, a disgusted look on her face. "Don't say it like that! It makes you sound like a hoe!" I laughed again and shook my head. "Hey! No prostitution intended!" And everyone laughed at that.

Sooner than we all noticed, Temari pulled onto the highway and hit one-ninety-five. I winced as the inertia made me push back against the seat. "TEMARI!" She whirled her head around to face me for about two seconds before she snapped her head back around to turn into the next lane, saying that we were almost there. With how fast she was driving, I didn't doubt that.

"What's wrong?" I shook my head. "You're going too damn fast!" She shrugged. "This is slow compared to how fast I want to drive! I like the wind!" I rolled my eyes. "Anyway who's fought against or with you already knows that…" She grinned at me from the rearview mirror before she quickly turned off the highway and took a quick turn. Never-mind quick; the turn was sharper than Shark teeth! It had us all pushed toward our lefts, making us bump into each other painfully. Temari hollered a quick "Sorry!" over her shoulder before she turned her attention back to navigating her way around the city.

I recognized the place we were at. We were just two blocks away from Orochimaru's lair, only about thirty seconds at the rate she was driving. She took a few sharp turns and faster than we knew it, she was stopping the car in back of Orochimaru's lair.

Tenten was the first one out the car, gun at the ready by her side, while we all followed her out. Temari locked the car before giving Tenten the OK for her to start walking. She led us in our little group, walking us over to the rotting, wooden back door of the place, which is just a few feet where Temari had parked. The back of the building looked shitty, but I'd gotten used to it. The façade of the front and all the computers was all just to make everyone think that it was just like any other small office in the run-down section for drug-dealers who have rent problems or something, but in the back, since there was an alley that practically no one found unless they lived there, there was a bunch of graffiti showing proudly who lived there. **"THE BOSS" **and **"OROCHIMARU THE KING" **were painted boldly and colorfully on the back and on the door was "**THE MOTHERFUCKING KING'S CASTLE!" **in all capitals. I rolled my eyes. I always hated the back entrance. It matched the underground floors perfectly.

"This door's always locked. Only people with keys can go in…" Tenten looked back at me and smiled. "We have our own ways of getting in…" She turned her gaze to Sakura, who nodded and rolled back the long sleeve of her shirt and edged forward. I stopped her before she could go on. "Wait a minute! There are guards all over this place!" Tenten turned around to face me. "With how good the boys are, they're going to need all of the back-up they can get so I bet most of the guards are either too injured, too busy, or too dead or close to it…" I sighed. "Fine, go ahead." Sakura nodded and continued toward the door. The alley was thick so she had enough room. Our breath came out as mist in front of us from the chill, but there was so much adrenaline rushing through us that we barely felt it.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she snapped them open and brought her fist back. I counted the milliseconds as her fist swung forward at an amazing speed and knocked the shit out of the old, rotting wooden door. It broke completely off its hinges, flying in with a big **"BOOM!"** I winced but was happy when I saw no guards. Tenten put a hand to stop us all and peeked around the edge of the door, where the hinges had been, scanning the side of the room before she walked in and quickly scanned the area. She turned to us and nodded before turning back around, fingering her gun as she inched across the first floor backroom. Her head would turn this way and that, scanning to make sure that the area was clear.

We'd also scan ourselves, but we left that to her. She crept forward silently and cracked the door open quietly, yet just enough for her to peek through and see what was going on, on the other side. She held up a hand to stop us before tightening her grip on her gun and pulling the door open to let some light creep into the dimly lit room we were in. It was a small crack just big enough for her to squeeze through unnoticed.

There was complete silence as we listened for any sounds of a struggle or fight. We all jumped pretty hard when she peeked her head through the door and nodded, signaling us to come out. We followed quickly, coming out of the dim light of the setting sun slipping through the door Sakura had broken down and into the much brighter light of the next room. The walls were painted white, with furniture pushed up comfortably against the walls. Little red couches and throw rugs were thrown around, the gray tiled floor just a tad bit dusty. The room would've been pretty comfy, save for the fact that this was the room where Orochimaru's people waited to be tortured without knowing. With a jolt in my stomach, I realized that we'd just exited the torture room, which was the reason the room had been so dark. That was why no one had heard the bang of door crashing down. The walls were sound-proof; that way the next victim wouldn't suspect anything and try to run away.

The room was intended to make the person calm, to keep them at ease, so that when they actually went in to get tortured, they would be too shocked to make any noise up until the pain sank in. And usually by that time, they'd be so close to death that they'd practically be unconscious. I remember I had to torture someone once to gain Orochimaru's trust. I'd been hesitant in using such awful methods which made him reconsider time and time again if I was truly worthy to become a part of this "alliance" between the Prostitutes and Sai's gang. I didn't want to make that guy feel as bad as he did but I had to. I got off easy though; I didn't have to kill him. I had to tie a blindfold onto him and drip water onto his forehead, giving the illusion that the room was being filled with water, and that he would drown to death. It was creepy for me, but the screams of terror coming from the guy himself were so sickening, so heartbreaking, that it was so damn hard to believe that it wasn't a nightmare.

We moved across the room so quickly it was crazy and Tenten silently opened the door leading us to the next part of the hideout. There was the sound of skin contact and then a weird 'thud' before Tenten peeked around the door and nodded. "Okay, be on the lookout. There was one guard here, but that's a sign that there's more up ahead."

I nodded, and the girls did as well, giving their own signs of comprehension. Cold metal touched the back of my head and my stomach lurched nervously. "Up ahead and behind bitches…" I smirked. Her again? "Ami, you didn't seem to learn from what happened last night, huh?" I could _feel _her smirking as she said, "What was I supposed to learn? How to get my ass caught with a gun like you did?" I shook my head as I cocked my gun and pressed it to her forehead. "Nope. How to catch your opponent off guard, dumbass." She went rigid behind me, and I felt my smirk widen as the girls stared at us in awe.

"Karin you fucking bitch!" I smiled in spite of myself as I brought my hand under hers and in a swift movement knocked her gun out of her hand, tossing mine to the side as well, before grabbing her wrist and flipping her over to slam her onto the floor hard enough to make her lose her breath before placing my foot on her gut. "Don't call me a bitch, cuz I take too much pride in a title like that for you to fuck it up." I smiled at her before bringing my foot up and slamming it down on her stomach. She gasped and coughed out blood. "Hoe." And with that, I came down and punched her across the face, making sure to break her nose again, before punching her again and kicking her in the temple, knocking her out.

I spit in her direction, but not on her. "Fucking slut…I swear I hate her with a _passion!_" I turned to look at Tenten. She was smirking. "The feeling's mutual here with her…" I laughed slightly before I walked over to pick up my gun and then back to the girls. "Maybe that's why I turned her down for this gang…" She nodded and then we placed all jokes aside and continued on our way.

It was completely silence, seriousness settled back into us as we made our way through the back-part of Orochimaru's place. The place was drowned in darkness and it sent shivers up my spine. Just thinking about all the dark deeds that had been and still were being committed here made me feel a maddening fear and anger. Fear because I knew just what torture methods they would use if they captured us. Anger because I knew just how many innocent lives they were willing to take here.

I fingered my gun absently, reassuring myself that I had a weapon and was going to be safe so long as I reacted quickly enough. '_But what if I'm _not _quick enough?' _I shook my head and pushed the thought out of my mind. No! I wasn't going to think negatively.

"We reached the main hallway intersection of Orochimaru's place and went back to back and top to bottom. Tenten and Temari were pressed back to back to back to back with Sakurambo and Sakura. Ino and I were scanning the top and bottom of any guards that might come our way. I know you think it's silly that we'd be scanning the ceiling and floor but Orochimaru had trap doors _everywhere_ and those trap doors were very hard to spot. If you stepped on one, you'd trigger an entire trap door and alarm system that would send all his guards to your current location in a heartbeat. It was pretty weird but it was true. Orochimaru's place was rigged with nothing but security, computers, and security computers.

Once we knew that the area was clear I stepped in front of the group. "Okay. I know where we need to go to find Ami's girls. Trust me, I know how their sick whorish minds work. So follow me, okay?" They nodded quickly and I turned back around to start leading the way. The sickening feeling working its way through my stomach was a surefire sign that I was nervous as hell! It didn't stop me from leading the girls twist after turn until we reached a familiar door. Its paint was chipped off in a lot of places and the doorknob was old and rusty and halfway out of its original place already. There was no sign on the door declaring who's room this was but who in the hell would forget a door like this?

The outside was rough but the inside was pretty okay. They'd repainted the walls white and placed black couches here and there, a few armchairs in the same color, and some red throw rugs here and there. I remembered helping decorate the room with them.

_I pushed the armchair toward the wall until the back actually met the white plaster and turned to see Tayuya and Ami fixing yet another red throw rug. I couldn't help it. I had to ask. "Why in the hell do you like black and red so much? I mean it's a cute combination but…it's kinda…creepy sometimes." Ami looked up at me and smirked. "Karin, stop pretending like you don't know." I raised an eyebrow. "But I _don't _know…" Her smirk widened. "It reminds us of the way bullets break into the blood and the way the blood pours out…"_

_Twitching a little, I asked "And how in the hell is that not creepy!?" She turned her attention back to the rug, shaking her head, smirk not leaving her face. "You'd better get used to the idea Karin. Once you go into a gang, you know there's no leaving the deal for real. You're always a part of it." She stood up, finished fixing the carpet. "And so is the blood…"_

I fought down a shiver at the thought. She'd been right so far. I'd seen blood spilled so many times its incredible really. There had been enough bloodshed in my life that didn't need to happen…but it did anyway…and I was rueful for it but in a way it helped out; it helped me realize that if I was going to spatter blood that it would be that of the people who do the wrongdoings.

That was why I'd come to join Kunai. That was why I'd been working undercover with Sakurambo for so long. She faked her own death with the help of me and my healing powers…and she'd worked under Orochimaru…we'd made a good team and in the end…it paid off.

Placing my hand on the knob, I pocketed my gun and pressed my ear against the center of the door, where the tension forces were less thick and the most hollow and least compressed part of the door was, and listened intently to see if anyone was inside. Surely enough, there was no sound coming from the other side.

"Looking for us bitches?" We snapped around in a heartbeat to see Tayuya and Shiho standing there, arms crossed over their almost completely bare chests as we stood there, faces going hard and angry. "Yeah…where the hell are the rest of the girls?" Tayuya simply smiled sickeningly sweet and from my years with her, I knew that never meant well. I retracted my gun and in the blink of an eye I'd had it raised at her, but she was smart. She had her gun raised at my head at the same time I'd raised it to point at her heart. "Heh…you're becoming predictable Karin…that's not good…your opponents could easily use that against you." She smirked cockily, pulling back the safety on her gun as I pulled back the one on my own. "That's okay bitch, cuz you've known me for five years. Try anything and I bet you that I sure as hell can counterattack before you're even done attacking!" Her smirked turned into a senile smile. "Awe Karin, that's about the only thing I'm gonna miss from your treacherous ass! You're good sense of humor!"

With that said, she shot off a round of bullets at us, bullets that missed us completely. I raised an eyebrow. "Were you even trying?" I still had my arm raised, gun at ready. "Oh no…I was just testing the waters…I wanted to see how fast your reactions were…judging on how none of you moved I'd say they're very slow…" Her senile smile broadened. "Good…that means that this'll be quick then."

I smirked. "Yeah bitch, I doubt that!" And I shot off a round myself while Temari whipped out her fan and blocked the mass amount of bullets that Shiho had fired at me. "Ha! Bitch didn't I tell you that wouldn't work with this fan?" I could hear Shiho groaning at Temari's comment, but I wasn't paying attention to them right now. I was smirking in satisfaction at the way the bullet came into contact with Tayuya's arm, not going in but clipping enough layers to make her bleed like hell and let out a small scream. It was a nice wound that made her even drop her gun. Feeling pleased I jumped over and kicked her in the back. She flew to the ground with a 'thump' as she fell face first, and I cursed her when she caught herself with her hands at the last minute.

Grinding my teeth together, I raised my gun and pointed it at her. "Heh! You're becoming weak, Tayuya! Better be careful! Your opponent could use that against you!" And I let out a small little cruel laugh full of nothing but disliking for her. She simply glared at me and I smiled. Keeping my gun cocked in her direction I turned to look behind me at Sakura and Hinata. "Yo! Go get Sasuke back! We got these two bitches right here! And take down Hanara and the other sluts that might be there…" They nodded and the pinkette and indigo-haired heiress hurried down the hall to search around for the source of the fight.

My smirk remained in place as I turned to look Tayuya straight in the eye. "Alright bitch, it's time to end it!"

Cold metal was placed against my head and I heard a familiar masculine voice that reminded me of the raspy feeling in your throat when you have one of those colds that makes you lose your voice. "Heh…you're right. It is time to end it." I grit my teeth as Zaku pressed the gun harder into the back of my head, and I felt the pressure being put on my head actually pierce through a small part of the skin. There was no blood because it wasn't all layers, but it was enough to make me fight a wince as I continued to point my gun at Tayuya. I swear I _heard _him smirk at the current position. "Bye Karin."

_Click, click; __**BANG!**_

_**  
**_**Hinata  
**I hurried down the laws, listening for any sign of a conflict or battle or struggle. I felt like a detective or an officer as I listened for such things but it was necessary. I halted; suddenly enough to make Sakura skid to a halt and turn to look behind us in anxiety. "What's wrong? Is someone following us?" I shook my head and closed my eyes, putting my hands together and concentrating thoroughly. I was trying to make the focus in my eyes that much sharper that way my vision would be much stronger. Frowning up until I felt the energy wave course through me, I opened my eyes and scanned the current area we were in, listening to anything and everything.

From my right, I heard a suspicious scream that sounded angry and something like "ah-kay!" So I grabbed Sakura and pulled her down the hall behind me. She seemed confused but didn't criticize my judgment or choices and just followed along. The yells got a little louder as we turned down another hallway. It echoed off the walls faintly here, seeing as they were made of metal and the sound waves bounced off easily. "-Asukeeeeee!" I blinked and continued on. The voice was easily recognizable. There was no doubt in the back of my mind that it was Naruto.

At the thought of him still okay from what I could hear, my heart washed over in relief. But from the look on Sakura's face, the way that Naruto had Sasuke had left her with a complex array of emotions, and the most easily seen one was worry. "Oh God!" We darted forward faster, uncaring if our legs started tensing from the excess running and if our lungs burned from how much oxygen and carbon was entering and exiting at the same time. I needed to see Naruto; I just _had _to. I wanted to know if he was perfectly okay though and I was pretty sure that Sakura was thinking the same exact thing about Sasuke.

I knew at once what I was feeling for him. It was at that very moment that I discovered something so important about myself and about Naruto that it was mind-breaking why I couldn't see it before.

I loved him…

The never-ending worry for him, the endless caring for him, the embarrassment and flustered blush every time he was around me. It all made so much sense to me now. The reason I cried over him that first time that we fought. I'd felt slightly, as strangely as it seems, at peace fighting Naruto that first time. I was incredibly easy to sadden at that time, but even then I didn't cry whenever I beat someone up. I didn't understand why I cried over him, but I did, and it surprised me. I had no idea what had taken over me that had caused me to react the way I did but I didn't try to stop myself, I couldn't! All the reasons all the answers lying in front of me and I couldn't tell what on earth was wrong with me up until now, when he was in danger.

My heart fluttered as the word ran through my mind, his face following right behind it. It was incredibly stupid for me to not notice it before. I loved him.

If not for the situation at hand, I would've smiled and let out a small very bubbly giggle, but I didn't; couldn't, knowing that he was in danger. I sped up and next to me I felt Sakura do the same. My breath was leaving me as quickly as it was coming in now and I became lightheaded. It would be just my luck to black out or faint just before getting to him.

But I didn't.

We reached them shortly after the feelings came and we came to a halt, breathing hard, faces flushed, as we took in the scene before us.

Sasuke was smirking, blood trailing from his nose and lip, blood and cuts scattered and splattered across his arms and a few cuts from his shirt. His hair was disheveled and messy and he looked, overall, like a bum. His clothes were stained with blood, and that's all there was on it. He looked cocky and arrogant but through the mask, deep in his eyes, I felt like I saw a small twinge of hurt. And I'm pretty sure Sakura was about to break down from the sight of him.

My gaze landed on Naruto and I nearly felt like passing out myself. He was covered in blood. It trailed down both sides of his mouth and I winced thinking about possible internal bleeding as I took in the blood trailing down his own arms. He didn't seem to notice me because his blue eyes were fixated on Sasuke, glaring him down. His hair was a mess and seemed frayed and dirty. His own clothes were bloody as well, but was scared me most was that his appearance had changed slightly. He looked like a savage, crazy even, like he was really trying to kill Sasuke.

The room itself was just about the only thing that wasn't in such a bad condition. There was blood on the floors and walls, yes, of course, but other than that it was decent. A few bullet holes could be seen in the walls here and there and the bullets actually stuck out in some of them. I twitched slightly at the sight. What was going on here?

"IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT UZUMAKI?"

I blinked and glanced at Sasuke, who was glaring Naruto down right back, although there was a cocky smirk on his face. "IS IT?!" He shouted. His smirk only seemed to widen in ridicule at the anger on Naruto's face. He raised a questioning eyebrow as Naruto brought up a rather injured looking hand and clenched it into a fist.

"NO IT ISN'T UCHIHA! YOU JUST WAIT AND SEE!"

And with that he shot forward, fist at the ready, at Sasuke. To say that the two were amazing fighters was an outrage because words like incredible and amazing just couldn't even begin to describe the strength and speed being shown.

Naruto let his fist push forward toward Sasuke's face, but Sasuke dodged it almost as quickly as the fist had come at him and attempted to trip him, but Naruto jumped over his leg and tried to kick him. Sasuke blocked the kick with his arm and tried to counter with his own, but Naruto's leg met his and they jumped back half a step as the impact of their two legs got to them. They ignored the short-lived pain and ran back at each other again.

Sasuke tried to punch Naruto to distract him, missing on purpose, before going around behind him and trying to grab him by the throat. I bit my lip as Naruto elbowed him in the gut and ducked under another punch that came his way. This was all happening in a matter of seconds, about three quarters of a minute. It was amazing to me. We could fight this good, but the fact that they were doing it out of pure rage and self defense and not training was just awesome in the non-teenage way (as in the way where power is incredibly remarkable).

Sakura gasped air in next to me as Sasuke ducked a punch of Naruto's and let his fist collide with his face. Everything from there was just nothing of self-control. Everything was lost, including Sakura's mind. Her emotions ran wild and she let out a loud scream as the tears poured down her face in sorrowed and angry bursts. "SASUKE!"

It wasn't until that moment that he noticed us, his head whipping around to look at us, as Naruto struggled to look over at us from his position on the floor. His eye was slowly bruising and more blood was trailing down his chin, and I felt tears pour down my own face at the sight, but I didn't scream, no matter how badly I wanted to. No sound came out, even as my lips parted. I knew I was pale as I took in the sight and no matter how badly I tried to scream, no voice came out. It was like my vocals had locked themselves in tightly and weren't intending on moving.

Sakura, on the other hand, darted forward quickly as Sasuke's eyes widened, taking in the sight of us. My eyes were transfixed on Sakura now, but my mind was on Naruto as she charged at Sasuke, tears flying behind her, hair being blown back by the wind. "SASUKE!" She screamed again as she hit the halfway mark to him briefly before passing over it, fist at ready.

This was getting bad.

**  
Sakura  
**My heart. It was breaking into even smaller pieces at the sight before me. His eyes widened and out poured the misery and pain but he quickly covered it with anger and arrogance as I made my way over to him. The painful memory of the night he left was refreshed in my mind, like stabbing yourself in the heart and then two days later, after it was just a little bit better, stabbing yourself again (although if that were to happen the person would've been dead already). The ache that was growing to an unbearable bluntness was growing at a steadily rapid pace, and it only grew worse as I neared him.

I knew I was crying, and I couldn't stop the tears even if I tried. The sight of him like this hurt too much. He was really fighting his best friend to stay with Orochimaru…

He'd looked like he intended on doing some permanent damage too. His face turned stoic as I drew closer and in his eyes I could see his emotions conflicting with each other as I brought my fist back. What I was intending on doing could possibly break his jaw to the point that he'd actually have to go to an actual hospital, but I didn't give a fuck right now.

"_I LOVE YOU SO MUCH I CAN'T EVEN STAND IT!"_

At this point, it felt as though he didn't care much what those words truly meant to me, so now I didn't care much about the pain I was about to inflict on him. I was going to drag him home one way or another, but I wasn't going to let him stay with Orochimaru and cause me more pain.

It was selfish, I know, but I was still doing him a favor. Orochimaru wasn't going to do much for him and deep in my shattered heart I knew it. I shot forward faster, feeling rage and sorrow bubbling inside of me as I saw Naruto struggle to sit up and cough up more blood, as I saw Hinata running over to aid him, tears sliding down her cheeks easily as well, as I neared him meter by meter, foot by foot, inch by inch.

He was going to hurt. He was going to hurt just as much as I was hurting right now. The physical pain was going to be nothing to the pain I felt inside of myself and I knew that. Feeling incredibly angry and nothing but enraged and even sad, I grew only a few meters away from him. At four meters, I couldn't help but think twice of what I was doing.

'_What's this going to do?!' _My mind seemed to yell. _'A whole damn lot!'_ I yelled back.

At three meters I couldn't help but cry harder. _'Stop crying you big baby!'_ I yelled at myself mentally.

At two meters, I tightened my fist, ready for the impact. _'Let's go motherfucker! It's time for you to feel what I'm feeling right now!'_

At one meter, I completely lost it and let momentum and anger push my fist forward. _'I hope this fucking hurts you!'_

At zero meters, my fist connected with his cheek and he was sent flying backward as my tears dripped onto the floor, my hand and arm dropping back to my side as I hung my head in sorrow. _'Because I know just how much this hurts me…'_

And all hell broke loose.

----

She dropped to her knees, shoulders shaking her entire body with the sobs that rang out in the hall. She choked on them, her tears running down her face and dripping off her chin onto her legs and hands that were resting on her lap. She let out a saddened scream and brought her gaze up to meet his.

Shining emerald met burning onyx and the sorrow was like a puzzle. It pieced together with one another and formed one giant picture of solitude and loneliness.

'_Why?_' The emerald pleaded.

'_Because'_ The onyx seemed to respond.

'_Why are you putting me through this? WHY!?'_ The shining emeralds screamed out, becoming wet and letting the water drip out.

'_Because I love you…'_ The onyx said back.

'_Stop lying to me! STOP LYING TO ME!'_ The emeralds screamed, saddened.

'_I'm not lying to you!'_ The onyx seemed to yell back.

'_Then why the hell are you doing this to me Sasuke?! WHY!?'_

'_I already told you Sakura…I love you…'_

'_GIVE ME A REAL FUCKING REASON! TELL ME WHY!'_

'_Sakura, I just don't want you to get hurt!'_

'_You're not doing such a good job at it!'_

The message through the eyes was clear as she watched from afar, tears sliding down her own cheeks as she grabbed onto the hand of the one she loved. His fingers laced through hers as they studied the mental battle that seemed to be going on.

'_Sakura please! I love you!'_

'_Don't play these games with me Sasuke! I'm not falling for it!'_

'_I'm not playing any games Sakura, I really do love you!'_

'_Yeah, okay! If only you knew Sasuke! If only you knew!'_

But he did know. And what she'd wished for him earlier had been accomplished. Deep inside him, something cracked, threatening to break completely, and a great pain built up in his chest, but he refused to let it show.

'_Sakura…'_

'_I HATE YOU SO MUCH I CAN'T EVEN STAND IT!'_

That did it. The pain in his chest swelled as something within him broke into thousands of millions of pieces, each piece tearing into two itself, as he took in her saddened expression. All this through the eyes, all these messages and emotions. And it killed him to know that he was the cause of these emotions.

That he was the cause for so much heartbreak…

* * *

_OMG! Okay this has to be the most angsty chapter I've ever written! lolx so much fucking crying! IT MAKES ME SICK! lmaoo jk but yes this took a rather long time because they decided to OD on assignments at our school for the past two and a half weeks up until today, and even now I've got a packet from math and a packet from science (gosh!) but I've got all vacation to get it done because for the next ten days I am off school! So YAY! That means I'll be trying to update much faster, okay? Oh yeah! And I'm also going to be editting and adding onto the first few chapters because looking back on them I think I was a terrible writer back when I first started the eighth grade lmaoo! My vocabulary's increased due to the inevitable curiosity and itching desire to find the synonyms of words and trust me when I say, I'm looking forward to putting all those words in here so you'd better have a copy of "Webster's College Dictionary" or "Webster's Pocket Dictionary" or "Webster's Thesaurus" or something like that/of that sort nearby because you won't believe all the torture I'll be putting your minds through if you choose to read the entire story over (hey I've done it with plenty of fics [and the Harry Potter, House of Night, and Vampire Academy Series...but not Twilight because I didn't think it was as good as its reputation states] over the years and its worth it because if you read it once and then go back and read it about a year later, it gives you more of an understanding to it if there was something that you think you missed before and feel confused about now lolx but anyway back to my previous rant) or skim through it._

_Oh, and just another thing. Tomorrow is the official birthday of xXKiki-chan-2-13Xx hence the last two numbers of my name. My birthday is the day before Valentine's Day (2-13! Woot woot! x333 lolx!*) and I felt that this would be a decent Valentine's Day present for all of you! And reviews would kindly be accepted as a birthday present =D lolx (because its sad to say that this story has only 39!) and Valentine's Day present. So yes, this is all (_all? _Bitch you ranted for the longest time ever! lmaoo! I love talking to myself on computers, it makes you seem that much saner when you do it in person lmaoo! jk) I have to say and sad to say I've canceled the Suspense Questions app on the xXKiki-chan-2-13Xx server, so you can think of those on your own ;] ! Tee hee! Well, yeah! lolx buh-bye! Be back in a few days hopefully =]_

_Thanks to all who read, and review please! x33_

**p **happy _Valentine's _Day **_everybody!_** x333 peace out!


	23. Anguish

**Chapter Twenty-Three  
Anguish**

_I can't take it any longer  
Thought that we were stronger  
All we do is linger  
Slipping through my fingers_

I don't wanna try now  
All that's left's good-bye to  
Find a way that I can tell you  
I hate this part right here – Pussycat Dolls; I Hate This Part

----

He hated it. The hurt; the heartbreak; the sorrow…he hated every last bit of it! He couldn't stand it! It stabbed at his heart repeatedly, piercing it just a little more every time, pushing the same dagger into the same wound only to realize that with each time, the dagger seems to become larger and more dangerous until gradually the heart splits in half completely.

That was exactly was he was feeling as he took in her sorrowed and hurt face. The tears were her only giveaway, because her face seemed to be in complete shock. Her eyes. Her gorgeous green eyes showed how much it hurt her. Her eyes were the only part of her that seemed to fully move, the only part of her body that seemed connected to the nervous system, like the only color in a gray world. Her grassy green eyes met his stone onyx ones, locking with his deeply, and shouted a message. Hatred showed through the hurt and sorrow. She hated him; she loathed him. She couldn't stand being in the same country as him because he caused her so much pain. But hidden deep in her eyes, he saw the love; the love that she'd proclaimed to him before he left. It was true and sweet, and so _real_. It killed him to see that being covered up hastily and regretfully by the deep hatred bubbling inside of her. He'd seen that hatred before. He'd seen that hatred within himself. He'd experienced it the night that his brother killed his family.

Just as his brother had killed his family, he had killed her soul. Her eyes were emotional, yes, but void of anything else. The physical and spiritual connection was either cracked or broken completely from the extreme heartbreak. He realized then that he had been like that; that she had been mending his heart as the time passed, and they grew closer because of it. They'd had a soul-deep connection somehow and when he saw her soul gone, his heart broke all over again, going cold, and his soul vanished itself.

That first time; that first time that they had kissed, he felt the spark, he felt happy in a way that he couldn't explain. That happiness lasted for a while, keeping him going for that little while. And then they kissed again and it happened all over again. That time under the tree had been Heaven to him, both kisses, one needy and the other passionate. He was addicted to her; to her touch, her taste, her love. Seeing that all gone, seeing exactly the damage that he had done not only affected her, it affected himself as well. That soul deep connection…

"_I LOVE YOU SO MUCH I CAN'T EVEN STAND IT!"_Those words…

_"DON'T LEAVE ME!"_Those words had such a deep meaning and he was a fool to just realize it now. But he decided that there was no going back. He couldn't just go straight back, he simply couldn't. They wouldn't accept him back just like that just because. He couldn't. He'd told them that his decision had been made and that he was staying here. He'd even made the decision to try and kill his best friend, although he'd been stopped by this girl.

This girl that meant so much to him.

Her eyes; her eyes that gave so much away. Her flawless face was dull and void of emotion, save for the tears trailing down her cheeks. Her eyes showed him exactly what he hated to see; contradictions all bundled into one. He saw heartbreak and happiness, void of emotion and emotional, but most importantly, he saw hate and love.

The contradiction brought a sick feeling to his stomach and with a jolt he realized that she had stood up after all that time; he was just too busy focusing on her face that he barely noticed what her body had been doing.

Those eyes, those eyes that he loved so much closed, and more tears seeped through. She repeated her previous words softly. "I hate you…" She whispered. "I hate you so much…" She bit her lip, and he could _feel_ her heart aching from where he was as more tears slipped out. "So much I can't even stand it…" Her eyes snapped open, a fire burning in them that he had never seen. It wasn't a fire of hatred, it was a fire of determination. She cracked her knuckles menacingly, those knuckles that could cause so much damage.

"And I'm gonna show you just how much I hate you…"

And with that said, she shot forward, behind him in the blink of an eye. "Better be quick!" She whispered into his ear and he shot around, eyes narrowing as he scanned the room behind him for her. Warm breath tickled the back of his neck again, more near his back than anywhere else and he felt her ease up onto the tips of her toes to whisper in his ears again, sweetness and hatred flowing through into one as her voice. "_Sasuke-kun_!"

That being said, he shot around to come face to face with her fist and was sent flying backward as the two teen-lovers began their slow trail along the thin line of love and hate.

----

**Hinata  
**I bit my lip and grasped Naruto's hand more tightly as Sakura punched Sasuke in the face. Naruto let out a loud grunt from next to me and my gaze landed on him. "H-Hinata…help me sit up please!" I nodded, tears streaming down my cheeks as I placed a hand on his back and another on his head and slowly brought him up. His arm shot to grab mine and I bit my lip even harder. "Naruto…you're hurt so badly…I…" My entire body shook with a sob as he came into a sitting position and I threw my arms around him, ignoring the fact that he was hurt so badly. "Naruto!" He winced but he brought his arms around me, hugging me back. I buried my face into his shoulder. "Naruto…" I tightened my hold on him and he did the same as I shook with sobs.

"Hinata…" He placed a hand on the back of my head and I bit my lip to fight the sobs that threatened to break out. "I was scared…" Between us, there was silence, while with the other two there was nothing but the sound of skin contact and fighting. I grabbed at his shirt and took in a shaky breath. "Why?" He asked me and I took in another breath. "I was afraid that I was going to lose you…" A sob broke through, but it was muffled by his shirt. "Hinata you don't ever have to worry about that…" I shook my head and grabbed at his shirt tighter. "But how can I be sincerely sure Naruto? We can never know what the future holds." He chuckled only a little. "Well technically _you_ can." I bit my lip and shook my head. "Naruto…I want to know for sure…" He kissed my head softly and said, "You won't lose me. As a matter of fact, _I _should be scared of losing _you_." More tears escaped my eyes and he pulled me closer. "Hinata, I _promise_ you that there's no need to worry for me."

Pulling back the slightest bit, I looked straight up into his eyes. There they were again, those comforting blue eyes that seemed to understand exactly what I was feeling. "How am I going to be sure that you're going to keep that promise, Naruto?" He smiled at me sweetly, bringing up a hand to wipe my tears like he had done before in the kitchen. "Hinata, _I love you_, and I'd do _anything_ to make you happy; and plus I _never_ go back on my word!"

Placing my hand on his, a few more tears slipped out from the side of my face that he wasn't covering with his hand. I bit my lip and then smiled at him, closing my eyes as more tears left my eyes. "Naruto…I love you too…" He pulled me into a tight hug, despite the pain he must've been in. "And that's all I'm asking for."

**  
Tenten  
**Neji wasn't kidding that time in gym class.

"_Tenten…just do it because think of what would happen if your girls got jumped by Karin's entire gang, which in case you didn't know is like ten times your gang's size."_He was serious when he said that. I took down what had to be about the thirtieth slut already, punching her in the face and knocking her out with the force of it. I couldn't help but chew my lip in slight anxiety. I hadn't seen Neji at all since I'd been here and that was scaring me. Sure, I had been pissed at him, and still was very mad with him, but that didn't mean that I wanted something terrible to happen to him. A little blood seeped out and trailed down to my chin, but I ignored it and knocked out yet another girl as she came up.

There was a loud scream and I whipped my head around to see Sakurambo upper-cutting a girl and Ino smirking as she took control of her opponent's mind without the need to enter her body. "Mind Destruction Jutsu!" I winced as I thought about that. Now all Ino had to do was think something and the girl would be under her control, doing whatever Ino wanted her to do. "Now, do me a favor and go attack that other bitchy slut over there!" The girl's gray eyes turned to look over another slut. "But that's my sister!" Ino let out a rude laugh. "Well sorry!" And the girl shot forward and punched her sister smack in the face. I let out a small laugh of my own. "It's like a puppet show!"

Temari looked over at me just as she knocked out a few more sluts with her fan. "Ayo! Don't make fun of puppets cuz Kankuro will pop up and try and spazz!" I laughed even more and was caught off guard, being punched in the face. That knocked me out of my temporary laughter and made me glare at the person in front of me. Her hair was jet black, cold blue eyes piercing through my own. She was a full head taller than me and from the looks of her face, she'd gotten a very good nose job. With a jolt, I realized that she was the girl I'd beat up in the hallway. "That's for before, bitch!"

I simply smiled at her and let my fist connect with her perfect nose. "Yeah well bitch that's for just now!" She let out a scream and clutched at her nose. "DAMMIT YOU FUCKING BITCH! YOU FUCKED UP MY NOSE! ARGH!" She glared at me and I smirked. "Get the fuck over it whore!" And I kicked her in the temple and she collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

The sound of sneakers squeaking against tiled floors reached me and I turned my head in the general direction of the sound to see Kiba and Akamaru running toward us. My eyes widened and I let out a loud gasp. He had a hole in his shirt and a deep wound that was pouring blood, but he didn't seem to mind it as he ran toward us, wincing only the slightest bit, and raised a gun to a guard behind him, looking back for just that moment to shoot the guard in the face. "Dammit!" The guard simply smirked at him and dodged the bullet. Seeing that enraged me and I took a shot at him a few times, clipping a slut in the process. She screamed and fell to her knees, grabbing at the deep cut and the guard behind Kiba collapsed and coughed out blood before looking up at me.

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE SHOOTING ME LIKE THAT? YOU INSOLANT LITTLE TRAMP!" Me? A tramp? Oh no this guy did not!

Rage bubbled within me as I stepped forward, toward him, slowly, my gun behind my back. Everyone in the room froze as they saw me going up to him. I didn't know why nor did I care. I had business to take care of. "I'm a tramp; huh?" He smirked and nodded at me before gasping in pain. "Y-You're a dirty whore." I smiled as I reached him and grabbed his chin in my hands. "Then if I'm a whore what the hell are all these other bitches working for Orochimaru?" He spit at me and I punched him in the mouth. I was lucky his spit didn't get me. "You fucking pig! Don't spit at me! I understand drooling cuz I know I look good but why in the hell are you spitting?" He glared at me. "You're a conceited whore, that's what you are!"

I smiled sweetly and put my gun to his jaw, right under the chin, in the spot where the skin was weakest. "You've got such a dirty mouth. Let me wash it out for ya!" I pulled back the trigger just a centimeter, maybe less, when Ino pulled me back. "TENTEN NO! DON'T START THIS AGAIN! STOP!" She wrapped her arms around my waist and pulled me back, but I fought against her, wrestling to get back to the guy. "INO! LET ME GO! LET ME GO! I WANT TO KILL HIM! I WANT TO SEE HIM HURT!" She shook her head. "No! No you don't! Well…yes you do but…but you can't! TENTEN STOP!" I shook my head. "He called me a tramp! I WANT TO KILL HIM! I WANT TO SEE THE LIFE LEAVE HIM! I WANT TO SEE HIM _DEAD!_"

Pretty soon, Temari was in front of me pushing me back as Ino pulled me along with her. "TENTEN CALM DOWN! DAMMIT CALM DOWN!" I shook my head still. I couldn't control my rage. I could barely see now. "LET ME GO!" I screamed. "LET ME GO! PLEASE LET ME GO! I WANT TO SEE HIM HURT!" Temari pushed back against me harder and slapped me in the face. I screamed out at her. "WHAT IN THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" She screamed right back. "CALM THE FUCK DOWN! DAMN BITCH CALM DOWN! DON'T DO THIS AGAIN, TENTEN! DON'T DO IT!" I shook my head. "NO! STOP PULLING ME BACK! LET ME GO! LET ME GO!"

Kiba was right next to me then; I could barely see him but I could easily hear him. "Tenten, calm down! You can kill him some other time! We've got to get home!" I shook my head. "No! No we don't! I still have time to _kill him_!" He shook his head. "No! Tenten we have to go!" I tried to raise my arms to push Temari off of me, but she grabbed my arms and pushed them back, restraining me. "Tenten, Neji's hurt! He's hurt _bad_! And if we don't get him home, he could die!"

I'll admit, that made me freeze. The rage left me along with the rest of my emotions. I didn't even notice I had been crying from all the rage until now. I blinked, my vision slowly clearing up, and I saw Kiba there, looking worried. "W-what?" He repeated himself for me. "Neji's hurt, and we have to get home and tend to him because if not he could die!"

I'm pretty sure I went limp at that time because all I remembered was my breathing becoming shallower until I was wrapped in darkness.

**  
Sakura**  
I swung at him another time, and missed again. I gritted my teeth together and glared at him. "I'm going to get you Uchiha! Don't worry about it! You're gonna get yours!"

_Hatred…_

I lunged at him again and tried to punch him, but he blocked it, miraculously enough. My strength was fleeting, and so was my anger, and it was being replaced by my sorrow. I fought against it. I couldn't do it. I couldn't break down in front of him.

_Sorrow…_

I _wouldn't_ break down in front of him.

_Anger…_

I wouldn't give him the satisfaction!

_Love…_He was never going to see me do that again. I was going to be strong; I wasn't going to let myself break down like that again. I was going to take him down and drag him back, whether he wanted to go back or not. He wasn't staying here, and I wasn't going to let him. Glaring at him, I tried to fake him out but it didn't work and my fist came into contact with his palm. His face held no emotion, but his eyes; those eyes! Those great onyx eyes were begging me to stop; to believe him. There was no way in hell that I would!

Biting my lip, I tried to punch him again, but it missed completely. My glare intensified and I brought my fist back and aimed for his gut. He dodged it and I took a chance and swung my leg into his side. It worked. He let out a grunt and flew to the side.

Angrily, I jumped on top of him, straddling him, and brought my fist back so that I could let it drop on his face. I continued to glare at him, fist tight and ready to go down, but when I let it fall, I couldn't do it. It connected with the floor next to his head. I couldn't do it. No. That perfect face, scratched only just a bit by the punches Naruto had given him. That perfect, boyish and edgy face. I couldn't bring myself to hurt it or damage it in any way. I bit my lip, my glare softening. Something warm trailed down my cheeks and a sob reaped through my chest, escaping my throat in a little bubble. It made me shake with anger and sadness. I shook my head. I'd told myself that I wasn't going to cry over him! And yet here I was. I was in the perfect position for offense and I couldn't even do that right.

I broke down, unwillingly, and I saw the slight relief wash through his eyes, although there was no emotion on his face still. "Why! Why in the hell do you do that!?" I screamed out. He raised an eyebrow at me. "What in the hell are you talking about?" I bit back a scream and took in a shaky breath, more tears slipped along my cheeks. "Why do you constantly hide your emotions from me? Why?" He frowned. "I have no clue what you're talking about." But he was lying, because deep in his eyes I saw the regret, the guilt, the truth. "You're lying to me Sasuke." He shook his head, face emotionless.

Another sob broke through me and I tightened my fist next to his head. My other hand shook as I raised it to cover my face. "Sasuke…please…don't do this." His eyes were suddenly hard, but it was all false coldness as he looked straight up at me. From between my fingers, I saw him glare. "My decision has been made. I'm staying here, and nobody, not even _you_, can change my mind. As a matter of fact I want to stay here to be away from you. I don't want to be near you." More tears and a few sobs. "Why!?" I say, barely above a whisper. He smirked at me, playfulness on his face but regret in his eyes. "Because…you're annoying."

I would say that my heart broke, but it had already been broken. Shaking with the force of another sob, I let myself fall onto him, breaking down fully, and now willingly. My head fell onto his chest and my tears wet his shirt. His face was emotionless as he looked down at me, but his eyes showed shock. On any given day, if I'd have gone crying to him, he would have tried to console me. Not now. He simply sat up and pushed me off. I didn't do anything about it. I just grabbed at my bare uppers arms and cried, like I'd done since I'd seen him.

Sobs ripped through me, escaping me, soft and sad. I let out a frustrated scream and turned to look at Sasuke. He looked down at me, face uninterested, eyes guilty. "You say you hate me, right?" I glared at him, tears still slipping through, but nodded. "With a passion!" His glare burned straight through mine. "Well then I guess the feeling's mutual." And with that he turned and began walking down the hall. I felt my eyes go wide and my tears turned from streams to waterfalls. "SASUKE!" He ignored me and continued walking. From behind me, I heard Naruto join in. "TEME GET BACK HERE! DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU'RE GIVING UP!?"

My world was crashing down around me, and I felt myself going numb. My mind went fuzzy and my vision blurred to the point that I couldn't see anything. Exhaustion, I realized. I didn't know from what, but it was slowly taking over me until I couldn't bare it any longer. My body gave way and somewhere along the lines, I passed out.

**  
Hinata  
**She collapsed. After fighting for almost ten minutes straight at full power, she collapsed. As soon as she hit the floor I darted toward her, worried. "Sakura!" I crouched down next to her and placed two fingers on her temple, focusing energy into them. I poked her temple once, softly, and she shot up. "Ah!" She took in deep breaths, turning her head to me. "Hinata?" I nodded and she scanned the room quickly, spotting only Naruto limping over. "I let him get away…" She let her gaze fall toward the floor, and she frowned. "I let him slip right through my fingers…" I shook my head and rubbed her back a few times. "It's okay! We'll get him back! Don't worry!" But even I doubted my words.

Naruto's eyes widened, as if he'd just remembered something, and he glanced down at me. "Oh shit! Hinata! We've gotta get going!" I blinked and frowned. "What happened?" He shook his head and pulled Sakura up by the arm. "Neji's hurt! I just remembered!" I blinked. "WHAT!?" He nodded. "He got shot, once in the shoulder and another time in the stomach." Sakura's eyes widened and she looked over at Naruto. "How long ago was this?" He frowned. "Um, like fifteen minutes ago." Her eyes widened even more. "WHAT!?"

Without hesitation, she grabbed both of us by the wrist and pulled us down the hallways, going back. "Where is he?" She said over her shoulder, addressing Naruto. "He's on the second hallway after you come in from the front." She nodded and pulled us after her quickly, twisting and turning down the hallway, knowing exactly where she was going.

With one sharp and final turn, we saw a whole bunch of bloody guards on the floor, dead and motionless. I gasped and bit my lip. Naruto's face turned grim, and he turned to look at me. Sakura dropped our hands and shot forward, hopping over the bodies carefully and maneuvering her way through them. "I don't see him!" She yelled over her shoulder. Naruto ground his teeth together. "He has to be here!" He wrapped an arm around my shoulders comfortingly and I closed my eyes in concentration. I was going to find my cousin.

Taking in a deep breath, I pressed my hands together and focused my eyes better, sending the sharpness back into them and letting them snap open. I scanned the area briefly, frowning and narrowing my eyes, turning my head this way and that. Turning around, I looked behind me, but I saw no one. "Where did you last see him Naruto?" He pointed toward the mass of bodies in front of him and I bit my lip nervously.

Feeling nervous, I stepped forward just a bit, at the very edge of where the bodies started, and scanned the floor. I hoped to God that he wasn't dead like the rest of these guys. I hoped that he was okay; injured, but alive. I bit down on my lip harder, getting even more anxious when I saw him lying motionless on the floor, the only thing moving was his chest as he took in shallow, shaky breaths. "There!" I pointed out in front of me and ran over to him.

I stopped cold when I was closer though. What I couldn't see from afar were how deep his injuries were, or how injured he was. There was a gaping hole in his shoulder and another in his stomach. Bullet-wounds; I realized as I saw the little glimpse of dark metal. His face bared a couple scratches on his cheeks and his hair had come loose. His eyes, so like my own, were closed, breathing through slightly parted lips. His lips, although parted, were pulled, for the first time I'd ever seen him do in his life since he was like four, a small smile.

There was the squeak of sneakers and boots on either side of me and on my left, Sakura gasped. "Neji!" She bent down next to him and placed two fingers to his neck, feeling for a pulse. Her eyes widened greatly. "We've gotta go home; _now_!" I blinked back a few tears. "What's wrong?" She shook her head. "His pulse is fleeting, his breathing's shallow, and he has two really deep bullet wounds. I'm suggesting loss of blood and a few ruptured muscles here and there. All in all, if we don't get home in about ten minutes, Neji's gonna die."

My phone was out in a heartbeat, scrolling through the contacts list, searching for Shikamaru and Kiba's numbers. I dialed both and joined the calls quickly before smashing it to my ear. They picked up on the first ring. "Hello?" "Hello?"

"Kiba, Shikamaru; we've got to get home! Neji's hurt bad and-!" They cut me off, speaking in unison. "I know!" Kiba continued speaking though. "We're right down the hall, we'll be there in a few seconds." And with that, he hung up. I continued speaking to Shikamaru. "What about you? Where are you?" There was the sound of a few _**BANGS**_ and some screams. "Making my way down there!" I frowned. "Is anyone with you?" He took in a hard breath before talking again. He was running, I realized.

Well there was a shock. "No! It's just me! Gah! Dammit!" I winced at the volume of his voice. "Look, I'll be there in a few, but all I'm saying is be ready to run like hell! Oh shit! Gotta go!" The line went dead and I shook my head. "What did he say?" I turned to Naruto. "He said to be ready to run like crazy when he got here and that he'd be here in a couple minutes." He nodded and the sound of squeaking sneakers reach me again.

I turned my head to the side in curiosity to see Kiba tearing down the hallway with Temari, Ino, and Karin, carrying Tenten bridal style in his hands. Sakura bit her lip. "God, what happened to her?" He shook his head. "Nothing, she passed out, but it was from her heart and her rage." Sakura frowned. "What do you mean?"

Ino breathed in deep before speaking again. "Her heart was bad and some guy called her a t-r-a-m-p and she got real pissed and went into one of her…you know…" Sakura nodded and she continued. "And then Temari smacked her, which now that I look back on it is kinda funny, but anyway, Kiba told her that Neji was hurt and she passed out and oh my God is that Neji!?" I bit my lip and nodded. She ran over and looked Sakura straight in the eye. "We gotta get home!" Sakura nodded. "I know!"

The familiar squeaking of sneakers resounded again and Shikamaru stumbled around the corner, shouting a "RUN!" before making his way toward us and grabbing Temari by the wrist, pulling her behind him. The guards the rounded the corner right after him was word enough for us to follow him. Sakura quickly pulled Neji onto her back and made her way out the door, not stumbling in the slightest bit. She high-tailed it out the door and we followed her easily, stepping over the guards as best as we could and sometimes even stepping on the dead bodies before we finally pushed through the front doors of the place. Temari had pulled up the car already and we hastily climbed in. Sakura pushed in first, placing Neji down on her lap hurriedly and beginning to tend to his wounds as I opened the glove compartment and tossed her the needed supplies.

She nodded toward me in thanks, but didn't take her eyes off of Neji. Karin sat in the middle of the back and Ino on her right. The three medics sat in the back, shutting the door, as Sakurambo sat between my calves. Temari drove off as soon as all the doors were closed, heading home. I looked around and let out a small scream. "Where's Tenten?" Karin looked up at me and smiled. "Don't worry, she's with the guys." I let out a small sigh and nodded.

Sakura bit her lip as she began to clean up around Neji's wounds. "Oh God, Tenten's gonna kill me but…" And with that, she broke Neji's shirt open and began to clean around his wounds better. "Ino, hand me the kunai and the pliers." Ino grabbed said items and gave them to Sakura. Sakura handed grasped the kunai in her dominant hand and let the pliers rest on her lap. She leaned forward and lowered the kunai slowly over his stomach wound. She didn't want to hurt any of the organs, seeing as all the important ones were there. She bit her lip and carefully, very carefully, cut the skin around the bullet, not deepening it but widening it so the pliers fit.

Biting her lip still, she replaced the kunai in her hand with the pliers and lowered the pliers into the deep cut, letting out a gasp. "Oh God! He's lucky that the guy he was fighting had terrible aim! He missed all of his internal organs, thankfully, but he still got the bullet in pretty deep." The pliers went in pretty deep, about halfway, but she pulled them back out quickly, holding in the pliers a small bullet. She winced as she looked at the blood that coated it thickly. "That looks like it hurt!" She placed the bullet on a rag that was on Karin's lap and grabbed another and wiped the wound that was bleeding only the slightest. She let out a soft sigh. "I took out the one that was deeper but we need to get home and pump some lead into his blood so it thickens. That way he won't die of blood loss." I blinked back a few tears. "And what happens if that doesn't work?" She looked up at me. "What's his blood type?" I blinked and thought back on it. "Umm…I think AB positive." She smiled at me. "Then you, Tenten, and Temari will be donating a little blood to your cousin."

I nodded and she grinned as Temari really punched it and the car lurched forward at full speed, hurtling toward our house.

**  
Tenten**  
My world blurred past me as my eyes blinked open. It was awkward really because usually my world was just blurry, not super-blurry and passing me at like a thousand miles per hour. I blinked a few times again and my vision focused, although the world around me didn't.

And then I felt something under me, something soft but unfamiliar. I shot up, sitting, and looked around me. "What the – OW!" I winced as my head came into contact with something hard. There was a low chuckle and I looked to my right to see Kiba and Naruto. In the front, driving, was Shikamaru, swerving through the cars and following a familiar car in front of us. I frowned as everything slowly came back to me; the blinding rage, the slap in the face, and then: "OH GOD, NEJI! WHERE'S NEJI?!" Even Naruto and Kiba winced at the volume and exchanged glances. "Well…he's with the girls in Temari's car, probably being cured by Sakura right now."

I bit my lip hard and shook my head. "Is he okay? Is he gonna be okay?" Kiba frowned and sighed. "Sakura said either they get him home soon to thicken and add to his blood and fix some torn muscles or he'll…" He trailed off near the end and it sent me into full blown hysteria. "What?! He'll what? WHAT?!"

They winced again and Kiba placed a hand on my head. "Geez, calm the fuck down or _you're_ gonna be the one being treated for a near-death experience." I blinked. "Huh?" He sighed. "You passed out because you got so angry that you lost control of your breathing and threw your already fucked up heart off beat, so basically, you passed out from stress and rage. Well that's what Ino said." I sighed and shook my head. "I don't give a fuck. What the hell's gonna happen to Neji?" He shook his head, letting out another sigh. "Well let's just say that if he doesn't get to proper treatment at home, he's gonna be joining the skulls and bones pictures on the poison bottles." I blinked and tilted my head to the side, confused. "Whaaaaa-?" I stretched out the 'a' out of confusion.

Shikamaru let out a very long and annoyed sounding sigh. "For God's sakes Kiba. He's saying that if Neji isn't treated right, he's going to die." I winced and Kiba glared at him. "See I was trying not to be so out there so that it wouldn't hurt her and you gotta go and be all bold and blunt like come on man, what the fuck?" Shikamaru shrugged. "You were taking too long."

That was all I remembered hearing before my thoughts drifted to Neji. He probably thought I was still mad at him and that was probably his last thought before he got injured or whatever. I blinked back tears at the thought that he could actually die, and that the last thing he remembered about me would be me yelling at him. The lump in my throat swelled and threatened to break out as a sob, but I fought against it, although I couldn't stop the images of Neji's death flowing through my mind. Me without Neji was like a knife without a sharp point. If he died out, my life would be dull and pointless. I couldn't imagine my life like that. He was brought to me for a reason, and that reason wasn't to die on me so early in our relationship. I bit my lip, but my tears slipped out. I ignored them easily, but my thoughts still plagued me.

What would I do if he died? I didn't realize until then just how deeply I felt about him, how much feeling I truly had toward him. Taking a shaky breath I realized that this was what Sakura most likely felt toward Sasuke. She wasn't lying. She really did love him then.

I stared down at my palm, cut in a few parts from holding knives and kunai all day. It closed into a fist all on its own; I didn't have to do it myself. _'If that's the case; then I'm bringing Sasuke back myself, one way or another.'_ I frowned at my fist and then looked out the window. Everything still blurred past me in mixes of black and green as evening slowly fell into night. The sky's color had faded fast while we had been in there. I bit my lip and fought back a sigh. It was weird. It seemed like the forever-green city of Konoha was leaving a tribute for them.

Black and green, like their eyes. Even I had to admit that it was a cute pair. And then they were the epitome of boy and girl; blue and pink. His raven hair and her bubble-gum one; pink and blue; femininity and masculinity, and how they came together. Shaking my head, I looked back down at my fist, thoughts going straight back to Neji as the tears continued to leak out. "I wanna see him." Kiba and Naruto's heads shot up to look at me. "Huh?" "What?" Shikamaru glanced at me from the rearview, but said nothing.

"I wanna see him." I repeated. "I wanna see Neji…" Naruto and Kiba glanced at each other and sighed. "That isn't up to us; that's up to Sakura, Ino, and Karin." I bit my lip. "I know…but as of now I'm the gang leader and dammit I say I can go in there and see him before they continue!" I crossed my arms and I felt more of the warm liquid trailing down my cheeks. "Okay, then why are you telling us?"

With that, I shrugged. "I honestly don't know…I just…" I fought a sigh, and shiver down my spine took its place. "Damn…I…God that guy is lucky that you stopped me because I would have…" The rage overcame me again and so did a wide smirk as the possibilities ran through my head, the different methods of torture. "Tenten; I don't like the creepy look on your face!" I rolled my eyes upward to look at Naruto. "What's your point?"

He, in turn, tried to hide behind Akamaru. "Umm, nothing! Nothing!" I raised an eyebrow before turning to look back out the window and realized that we were only a block away from home. "Well damn that was fast…" Shikamaru nodded from the rearview. "Yeah, I know…now let's go!"

And with that being said, the car lurched to a stop and everyone was out in a minute. I saw Sakurambo being the last to enter, scanning the area quickly before turning around and going inside. We made our way up the porch steps and burst into the house, slamming the door behind us. "Where is he?" Were the first words out my mouth.

Sakurambo snapped around, gun out and ready, and finger about to pull the trigger, before she grabbed at the place where her heart was, eyes closing in shock, face pale. "God, Tenten, don't do that!" I shook my head, ignoring her. "Where is he?" She lifted a shaky finger to point up the stairs toward Sakura's room and I mentally slapped myself. _Well no shit Sherlock, you should've known that that's where she has all her equipment_.

Without so much as a second glance at anyone else, I darted up the stairs and barged into Sakura's room. "Where is he?" Sakura's head snapped up from her supplies as she turned to look at me, Ino and Karin looking over at me. "Tenten!" She bit her lip almost immediately after she said my name and cast her gaze downward. I bit my own lip, tears threatening to spill out. My eyes found him all on their own, as if they were magnetically drawn to him. They widened on their own as they took in the blood and the large holes in his shoulder and stomach.

And I lost it. The sight of him in that condition was too much to bear. I broke down, really, truly, broke down. It was the first time since I was five that I actually did; and I was fifteen.

"Neji!"

Limply, and shocked, I made my way over to his bedside and glanced down at his body. The bed-sheets were already stained in places with his blood. Tears escaped me like there was no tomorrow; hell I'd bet Niagara Falls didn't have as much water pouring down as I did. His hair was a mess, disheveled and loose, the pony-tail gone. I bit my lip but the sob escaped me anyway, and I reached down and grabbed his hand. "Neji!" His breathing was shallow, and his face showed obvious pain. His eyes slowly opened to reveal those precious silver orbs.

His brows furrowed only the slightest, and he looked up at me, eyes soft. His face was still contorted into one of pain. His fingers slowly grabbed onto my hand, his grip weak. He blinked, ever so slowly, and surprised me like hell when he spoke. "Ten…ten…" His voice was throaty and strained, barely above a whisper, and more tears dripped down my face. I shook my head. "Don't talk! Save your breath; you look like you need it." His silver eyes met mine for a second, and within them I saw something unfamiliar; something so un-Neji-ish that it had me thinking. "A-are you…still mad…at me?" My eyes widened as I took those words in; he remembered me as mad at him. I was right; that was how he would've remembered me and how he was going to if he died.

I tightened my grip on his hand, looking him straight in the eyes. "No; I can't stay mad at you. I love you." For the first time in my life, I saw a smile on Neji's face. It wasn't a usual smirk or a half smile, but a full smile. His silver eyes gleamed in the light of the room as he opened his mouth to speak. "That's all…I wanted…to hear…" He blinked slowly again, and I bit my lip. He looked so fragile; so weak. It made me feel weak myself just seeing him in this condition. Although weak wasn't the same as vulnerable with me.

His already weak grip loosened on my hand and his eyes slowly drifted closed, smile still on his face. "Neji!" Sakura pushed me away and shook her head. "Sorry Tenten! I gotta work here! INO! KARIN!" Both girls rushed over and immediately the medical work began. I saw Karin focusing on the wound in his stomach as Ino and Sakura worked over removing the bullet from his shoulder.

All three of their faces held nothing but concentration as they worked over him, intent and completely focused. Shaking my head, I turned and exited the room, rubbing my upper arms that were lining themselves with goose-bumps. I trailed down the stairs slowly, head down, and tears still spilling from my eyes. As soon as I reached the landing, an arm wrapped around my shoulders; small and sweet, and shorter than I was. Hinata. "I-it's okay, Ten-chan. He'll b-be okay. They're g-great medics." Glancing over at her, I couldn't help but think that even she doubted her words, because Hinata herself was crying too.

**  
Sakurambo**  
I bit my lip as I looked over at them. Sadness and mourning evident on both of their faces as the tears dripped onto the carpet. Something warm trailed down my chin, but I ignored it. There was doubt on both of their faces, the doubt that Neji would pull through. I glanced at Kiba and for the first time noticed the large gaping hole in his torso. I winced and walked over, placing a hand on it. He, in turn, winced as well. "Ah damn! I forgot all about that!"

Frowning, I pulled back my hand, ignoring the blood that was now on it, and crossed my arms. "And what in the hell happened that gave you that big ass stab wound?" He sighed. "Well I was fighting these twins, Sakon and Ukon, and Sakon came running at me one way while his brother snuck up on me. So while I shot at Sakon, Ukon came up from behind him and I blinked and next thing I know, there's a knife in me." I winced again and shook my head. "Ino's gonna go on a rampage and kill whoever touches you when she sees that…or at least when she remembers that you have it."

He grinned sheepishly. "Uh, yeah!" A little exasperated laugh escaped him as he scratched the back of his neck. "I know." He laughed a little harder but stopped immediately and clutched at his stomach. I shook my head and grabbed his wrist. He simply looked up at me. I raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "I'm taking you upstairs. You need medical attention too." He shook his head. "No! They're focusing on Neji, and he needs it more than I do." I shook my head. "I know that, but that doesn't mean they can't give you some medical attention too! It's their jobs! Now come _on_!" I yanked hard on his wrist and he jerked his hand away from me. "Let them finish Neji first! I'll be fine until then!" But he winced and I smirked at him. "What?" "You don't look like you'll be fine till then." He frowned and shook his head. "No really." My smirk widened. "What!?" He asked me and I let out a small laugh. "And now you're mentally cursing yourself."

He sighed and shook his head before he sat back down. "Is reading minds one of your hidden talents?" I grinned. "Something like that." And with that, I plopped down next to him, sparing another glance at Tenten and Hinata. My heart dropped immediately and I felt guilty for smiling for the smallest second while they were there, crying in anguish and sorrow. I shook my head again and bit my lip, my heart dropping. I could _feel_ Sakura's sadness pouring into me from upstairs while she worked on Neji. The telepathic bond between us was no ordinary thing; and it wasn't just some make-shift story about two girls "sharing a mind" because our telepathy was real, hard as it is to believe. It was all because of a mishap done by Ino back in our very young youth. We had all been best friends since about kindergarten, and Ino had been trying her hardest on her Mind Transfer, training herself up. She'd asked to do try it on me, and I'd accepted. But when she entered my mind, I was thinking of Sakura and the anxious look she had had when Ino entered me. Since Ino wasn't very good at the jutsu yet (this happened in second grade), she'd gotten that mixed up and one way or another, me and Sakura ended up with this weird, semi-psychic bond.

Her emotion spiked up and I felt my eyes widen because of it. The sadness overtook her greatly and I shook my head. A hand was on my shoulder in a second. "Sakurambo! Are you okay?" I placed my hands on my ears and shook my head. Memories came flooding back to me, memories that I'd kept locked up for four years came to me with the image of Neji on his bed as they operated on him in Sakura's room.

_Blood_

"No." I moaned out, pained, for a second.

_"Ino, quick!"_"No." I let out a little louder.

_"She's dying, hurry!"_"No!" It came out even louder.

_A shaky breath and a loud cry._"NO!"

_"Ino, Karin, hurry he's dying!"_"DAMMIT I SAID NO!"

And without much thought, I shot up the stairs, my hand latching on Tenten's and Hinata's wrists and pulling them up behind me, kicking open the door to the room Sakura was working on Neji. "DAMMIT! I SAID NO! I SAID HE'S NOT GONNA DIE!" Sakura looked up at me and the girls and she bit her lip and got back to work the next half a second. "Karin, Ino!" They nodded and Karin placed a hand over his shoulder wound, her face suddenly becoming very focused, before a cool air swept through the room. Ino let out a scream that I couldn't hear, because I was too busy focusing on Sakura's thoughts.

_Sakurambo, he's dying!_She didn't nod, she still needed to concentrate on soaking up the blood as she stitched him closed, but I heard the approval switch from my mind to hers.

Not if I say he's not!

Sakurambo, we're doing all he can, what the hell are you going to do?!

Just keep working! He's not gonna die!

Letting go of Tenten and Hinata's hands probably made them worse, because they both broke down while I made my way to Neji's body. I frowned down at it and let out a shaky breath before I placed my hand on his forehead. It was cold, but he was sweating, which was a good sign, because the body didn't perspire unless it was alive. I could feel my face scrunch up in concentration, but just barely, as I focused on his mind. I could just vaguely make out one word.

_'Tenten'_

And with that, my mind surged out of my body, although not fully, and connected itself with two very different minds; the mind of a boy, and the mind of a girl. And so came the conversation of a lifetime.

----

She took in a deep gasp of unexpectedness and grabbed, so suddenly, at her hair. Her eyes widened to the size of windows and she took a few steps back to steady herself as the cold impact overtook her. _'My God, Tenten, it's not that bad!'_

Her mind went fuzzy as the familiar voice rang through. _'Sa-Sakurambo?' _There was a small giggle that sounded so much like the Cherry Blossom and her best friend the Cherry that it was too weird to have imagined. _'Who else? Do I sound like Ino?' _She shook her head, eyes clamped shut. '_How the hell did you enter my mind?_' The pinkette took a deep breath and Tenten felt her eyes rolling unconsciously.

'_That's too difficult to explain; just listen carefully. Neji - .' _But she was cut off by the brunette letting out a mental scream. _'Oh shit, Neji! Neji! Stop wasting time, I need to get to Neji! Sakurambo, let me the hell out of this trick! He's gonna die!' _The pinkette shook her head and both her own body and the body of the brunette responded in the same way, leaving everyone in the room rather confused. _'Tenten just shut the fuck up and listen to me. Neji's not going to die. I have a surefire way to keep him alive!'_

_'Yeah? And what would that be?'_ A small, determined smile crept onto both of their faces due to the plan that was formulating in the pinkette's mind. _'Just keep telling him to not give up.'_

* * *

Okay; so number one - sorry for taking so long to update but I went back to school after a week of vacation and being packed with homework and test prep and such just was a lot but yesterday we had the day off because of a small snow storm and I worked on it then and now.

Okay; so number two - GAH! NARUTO AND HINATA CONFESSED! OH YES! WHOOT WHOOT! Why? Because as usual I had to add a little happiness to all the angst that I've been writing; it dampens my mood too much (grrr!) and I needed a bright side...and yes it was in an angsty sort of way itself but hey, it was the diamond in the rough, right? I mean you have to admit that in a crooked kind of way, it was cute =] . Oh! And I'm working on posting up two more stories (and yes, they are the typical high school fic!) and they are:

"Dear Koibito, Love Ai"

"Hate That I Love You"

The second is based on Rihanna and Ne-Yo's song, "Hate That I Love You" (it has such a creative title xDDD ) and I believe it's going to be really cute (but I'm the author, so I'm supposed to say that xDDD ). And now, let me stop ranting and go finish typing up the next chapter to "All is Fair in Love and War" and "ABC's" and finish the first chapter of "Dear Koibito, Love Ai" and "Hate That I Love You" so umm...buh-bye!

Thanks to all who read and review please. =]

OH WAIT!  
**Tenten: **Gawd, someone just slap tape over her mouth PLEASE!  
I was just gonna say: R.I.P. for those who died in the 8.8 magnitude quake in Chile today and thank God that the tsunami didn't hit Hawaii! Although now I feel that you guys got up at 5:00am for no reason... lolx well now I'm done.


	24. Smile

**Chapter Twenty-Four  
Smile**

_I mean he was Adam  
I think I was Eve  
__But my vision ends with  
__The apple on the tree_

'_S' on my chest cuz I'm ready to save him  
__Cuz I'm the one like Tracy McGrady  
__And I think I love him like Eminem call 'em Shady  
__When he call me mama lil' mama I call him baby – Nicki Minaj; Your Love_

----

Thoughts, so many thoughts, flowing through her head at once, most created by pure confusion and curiosity. _'S-Sakurambo…what?'_ The pinkette rolled her eyes and let out a sigh that escaped both the brunette's body and her own. _'Keep telling him to stay with you; to stay __**alive**__ so that Sakura can heal him! He may not be able to hear you physically but if you speak to him mentally, he'll be more likely to pull through!'_ The brunette pursed her lips. _'But wait; how are you-?' _The pinkette cut her off. _'Just shut the fuck up cuz I'll answer all these questions later; TALK TO NEJI!'_

Nodding on her own, the brunette focused her mind on Neji, feeling confused all the while, but she tentatively spoke. _'Neji?'_ The response was immediate. _'Tenten?'_ Even through the focus in her mind, she could sense the blur the word was in his mind. Her eyes went wide in surprise. _'N-Neji?' _There was a pause, before his voice broke through her mental barrier again. _'Yeah'_. His thoughts sounded week, frail. Another tear slid down her cheek without her noticing; she was too caught up in their thoughts. _'Oh my God, Neji are you okay?' _There was a pause in which the fog that seemed to be drifting around in his mine cleared before a sarcastic remark rang through. _'Oh yeah, I got shot twice and I'm in perfect health. Don't you see how I'm not bloody in any way possible?' _Despite the comment, she let out a small laugh.

A smile graced his lips. The laugh was heard both mentally and physically. _'Neji, I just have one thing to ask of you right now'_. A frown formed on his face subconsciously, and the medics working over him noticed. _'What?' _She bit her lip and shook her head. _'Don't give up yet, okay?' _And again his sarcasm rang through. _'Oh no! I'm so lucky you came along, because if not I would've let myself stop breathing and let myself die'_. She let out another small laugh, tears leaking from her eyes, not from the laughter, but from the sight before her. Her mind might've been speaking with his, but she could easily see his body lying on the bed as they worked over his shirtless form. _'I love you…' _He smiled to himself again, although it pained him physically. _'I love you too, Tenten'._

She smiled herself and made her way over to him, slowly, stretching out a hand, and curving around the medics so as to not disrupt their concentration. Her hand met his bloody cheek, and a few more tears fell. She wiped a bit of the red liquid with her thumb and brought it up to her tongue. "You're hurt." She smiled softly at what she was doing. "You're bleeding…" She bent down and gently kissed the small cut on his cheek. "I'm going to make you feel better."

He coughed a bit and a little blood came out, but that was all. His weak hand found its way to his wound and he slowly, painfully, cracked an eye open. His vision was blurred, but he could just make out three different girls working over his wounds. One was stitching his shoulder up, the other stitching up his stomach, and the third had her hands over his heart, eyes closed under her horn-rimmed glasses in concentration. But none of them held his attention for long. He turned his head to his side and caught the blurry sight that he'd been hoping for. There she stood, brown buns coming loose from what he could make out, equally beautiful brown eyes swimming with tears, cheeks wet with the ones that she'd already let fall. Her tanned face had a few minor cuts, but nothing more. Her lips were bloody, but not from injury, from kissing his own wound. Through his haze, he smiled at her and he lifted his hand to grab hers. She pushed it down gently. _'Nope…save your energy dummy'_. She smiled back at him and leaned down again.

Their lips connected for the briefest instant before she pulled back and he let out a cough. She grasped his hand softly and just stood, watching as the medics slowly brought him back.

----

**Hinata**  
Miracles really did happen. For most of my life, I'd believe that miracles were impossible. My life had been so full of despair and sadness and depression and abuse that it had led me to believe that if something good came, it was because something bad was going to come out of it. And yet here I was, witnessing the exact opposite. Something bad had been happening, yet something sweet was happening as well. Here, right in front of me, I was witnessing Neji coming back up from practically death. He was breathing, he was _alive_. And the look on Tenten's face showed that she was ecstatic, but shocked. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was on the brink of falling open.

His silver eyes, so like mine, snapped open, and met Tenten's brown ones. He broke out into a fit of gut-wrenching coughs, and placed a hand over his stomach-wound, which I was guessing was killing (metaphorically speaking) right about now. The blood flow wasn't strong, but it was still flowing enough to wet his hand. He winced in pain as he took in a small gasp of air. His free hand reached up so slowly, weakly, before it rested itself on a tanned, flawless cheek. Her eyes widened even more than they already were and she placed a hand on Neji's.

And then, something so unfit for this scene happened. Temari, who I'd just noticed was right on Tenten's side, brought up her own hand and smacked Tenten in the back of the head so hard her head was pushed forward. "OUCH! YOU FUCKING BITCH!" She turned and swiped at Temari. Temari, in turn, grinned and ducked before darting away to the door, laughing crazily. Tenten chased after her. "Temari you fucking bitch! Get back here so I can kill you!" Temari cackled loudly from somewhere downstairs. "And stop fucking laughing!" Temari laughed louder.

The sound of slamming doors reached us and I winced before letting out a small sigh. "Even at a time like this."

Neji gave another fit of gut-wrenching coughs, and all the attention was back on him. Even through the constantly shifting and moving bodies of Karin, Sakura, and Ino, I could just make out a small smile on his face. And that alone had me thinking that maybe, just maybe, Neji wasn't so cold after all.

----

I let out a sigh as I plopped down on the couch and raised a hand and wiped at my brow, before taking a deep breath. There was the sound of someone sitting down right next to me and I opened my eyes to see Naruto sitting there, looking down at me worriedly. "Hinata?" I blinked and smiled. "He'll be fine. He'll be sore, but he'll be fine." He let out a sigh of relief and grinned, wrapping an arm around my neck. As much as Naruto and the guys didn't admit it, they really cared about Neji.

"Okay! But that wasn't what I wanted to talk about…" And the worried look was back on his face. That immediately put me on edge. What exactly did he want to talk about? I frowned curiously, and he wrapped a hand lightly around my wrist before he pulled me up from the couch and out the door behind him, closing it shut. He let out a heavy sigh and sat down on the top step of the porch, fingers threading together. My curious scowl deepened and he turned and looked over at me, again with those ocean-blue eyes. He motioned for me to come over and sit down, and I did. "What do you want to talk about?"

He took in a deep breath and just stared at me, blue eyes meeting mine, _searching _for something. I felt myself getting nervous and bit my lip. "What?" I was curious, and the question just slipped right out. His eyes closed for a second, and a warm hand, calloused yet soft, grabbed mine. His fingers fit perfectly with mine, and I blushed lightly. "Hinata…" My blush darkened. "Umm…yes?" His eyes opened and met with mine again, but this time he wasn't searching. He was looking straight into me. "I need to know…" I frowned curiously again, although the blush didn't fade. "Know what?" He frowned, pursing his lips. He seemed to be thinking, mulling over what he was going to say in his head.

"I need to know if…you were telling the truth when you told me what you told me…"

My eyes widened, and I bit my lip, the blush on my cheeks flaring up again.

'_Hinata, __**I love you**__'_

'_Naruto…I love you too.'_

He wanted to know if I was serious when I told him I loved him. Most would've been offended, but I couldn't help but smile and let out a small giggle. I wrapped my arm around his and leaned my head against his shoulder. "Of course I meant it…" I felt his tense muscle relax, and few seconds later, his head was leaning down on mine. "That's all I wanted to know." His free hand brushed a stray bang from my face and he pulled back to look at me. "I love you too." And with that, he leaned in and placed his lips over mine, and it was perfection at its greatest.

"Ahem?"

We ignored whoever was there. This was _our_ moment; no one else's. And _no one_ was going to ruin it. "What the hell do you think Neji's gonna say when he finds out you're kissing his cousin?" Naruto growled against my lips. "Fuck off Shikamaru…" He drawled out a heavy sigh. "Fine, whatever. I was tryna help you out but if you want your ass kicked then be my guest." I smiled and pulled away before letting out a small laugh. I grabbed onto his arm and laid my head back on his shoulder. "Tenten won't let Neji-nii do much…"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "But what do you think _Tenten's _gonna do to Naruto?" At this, I froze, pursing my lips and widening my eyes in utter horror. "Umm…"

And at that same moment, Tenten walked out onto the deck, wiping her eyes. We didn't pull back, we couldn't. At the sight of her we froze even more, if it was possible. We looked like blond and indigo ice-bergs…or so I imagined. As soon as she finished her eyes met us, and widened. And then a broad grin spread straight over her face and she let out a bright squeal. "Aaaaaaaah! Sakurambo, Ino, come here!"

My face brightened as both girls came darting onto the deck. Their eyes widened as well and Ino let out a squeal even higher-pitched than Tenten's. She jumped up excitedly. _"FINALLY!_ MY GOD IT TOOK YOU TWO _FOREVER!_" She screamed. I winced and blushed an even darker shade of red. "W-what?" I couldn't help but stutter out as Temari walked out beside Tenten, who shoved a five dollar bill in her hand with no explanation. Temari looked down at it and then laughed in mirth.

She grinned over at me. "You and Naruto got together?"

I frowned and pursed my lips. "Huh?" Her grin broadened. "Did you and Naruto get together? You know, like as a couple…" I felt my cheeks getting hotter by the minute. Luckily, _I _wasn't the one who answered. Shikamaru spoke for both me and Naruto, who was competing against me in a _'who's face is redder'_ contest. "I came outside and they were kissing and Naruto looked on the verge of dying of happiness…what does that tell you?"

Temari laughed in mirth again and turned to Tenten. "HA! That's what you get for chasing me half a mile north!" Tenten simply glared at her and crossed her arms with a huff. "Shut the fuck up, Temari!" Said girl simply laughed again. Tenten ignored her and turned to us now. "Hinata, I wanna know something…" I raised an eyebrow in curiosity and she continued. "Was Naruto forcing you into something you didn't want to do?" I frowned and shook my head. "Why would you ask that?" She grinned sheepishly. "No reason…I just thought Naruto was a little too happy and he looks like a teenage-rapist and…I don't know you seem so shy compared to him." Temari grinned again. "Hinata's shy compared to anyone."

"True! True!" Sakurambo interjected.

A sigh escaped me and Naruto leaned over to me, his head just touching mine. "You think they're gonna keep the topic alive all night?" I glanced over at him. That face, so determined at times and so happy. Those golden locks that made him look about three inches taller. And those blue eyes that made my heart skip beats whenever I looked into them. I smiled softly. "Yes…but does it matter?" He shook his head and wrapped a strong arm around my shoulders. "No it doesn't…" And he placed his head right on me, ignoring the obvious 'awwwwwwwwe's from Tenten, Sakurambo, Ino, and Temari.

Footsteps could be heard trailing down the steps and everyone's heads snapped toward the stairs. Sakura was coming down, peeling off a pair of gloves, when she lifted her head and stared at everyone, eyebrow raised and eyes widened in curiosity, lips pursed in wonder. "Umm…what?" And we all broke out into laughter. She looked over at me and gave me a 'WTF' look, but I was too busy to respond her. I myself was laughing with Naruto and the others.

Laughing. That was how we were meant to be. Not sad or upset or angry, but happy. And it made my heart freeze for a second when I realized that Sakura wouldn't truly feel like that until Sasuke was back, and safe.

**Tenten  
**An hour later, I was back upstairs with Neji, watching him sleep. He looked so peaceful, so _unlike_ himself while he was resting. Those fierce and beautiful silver orbs were closed, and his chest was rising and falling rhythmically and slowly. It made my heart pound to see him like this. He looked like an angel (especially because of that pale Hyuga complexion!). And subconsciously, a smile crossed over my features. He was perfect to me, in every way possible.

He had his moments when he could be a _huge_ bitch and become the most insensitive man in the world; where the devil's incarnate would suddenly appear in him and swallow his mentality, driving his anger forth. He had moments where he was dangerous in an 'OMG he's awesome!' type way, in which he easily took down his enemy. Yet he also had moments when he was as gentle as a hummingbird, so sweet and soft, and so damn _cute_.

I resisted the urge to wrap my arms around him right then and there as he slept. I didn't want to disturb him. But it was _so damn hard not to_. I bit my lip to fight the urge and after a long hard struggle, in which my mind screamed _'GRAB HIM!'_ and my heart told my mind _'SHUT THE FUCK UP!'_, I came out victorious and maintained all composure.

Translation: I looked like a nervous mess, with my arms twitching out every so often to latch onto Neji. Yet they'd twitch back and the whole cycle would start all over again.

Up until Temari walked into the room and smirked at me. "What the hell are you doing?" A light pink tint lit up my cheeks. "Trying to keep self-control…" I might as well be truthful then look stupid if I didn't have a good excuse. She raised an eyebrow and let out a small laugh. "From what; raping Neji?" I frowned, pursing my lips, before glaring at her. "Fuck you." A grin replaced her smirk, so innocent and yet so sly. "That's what _he's_ for." She said, pointing to Neji sleeping.

My glare deepened. "Yeah well…" I paused and pursed my lips. "I can't think of anything to say so leave me the fuck alone!" She laughed and shook her head before turning and walking back into the hall and down the stairs.

A quick movement caught my full attention and I turned to see Neji waking up. I felt my eyes widen and before I could even think, I had thrown myself on him, holding him to me so tightly it was a miracle that he could breathe. I'm pretty sure he was having a tough time with it. "T-Tenten?"

"Ohmigod Neji are you okay?!"

"…I would be…if I weren't suffocating in your boobs…"

The heat rushing to my face was enough to make me pull my arms back and let Neji go. He looked up at me, and I realized just how tired and beat up he looked. The small cut on his cheek was cleaned out now, but it still glowed a bright red. His shoulder was wrapped bandages that stretched down and around his torso, wrapped tightly, and nice and white, not bloody (yay!) or showing any signs of continuous bleeding. He was pale and so sallow he looked almost translucent. "You look so dead it's a miracle you're alive…" His eyes were lidded, almost closed, and he looked drop-dead exhausted.

"I_ feel_ so dead it's a miracle I'm alive…" I bit my lip and pulled him into a much gentler hug. "But I'm happy that you are…you fucking bastard!" He went rigid in my arms and I pulled him to me just a bit tighter, but not so hard that it would hurt him. "What did I do?" I smiled a little as a tear leaked from the pool in my eyes. "You had me so damn worried! I was scared I was going to lose you!" A weak hand lifted and patted my back softly. "Don't worry…I'm still here."

"But what if you _weren't_ still here…what would I do then?" He was quiet, leaving us the uncomfortable silence that always followed a pressing question. And then, he sighed deeply and replied. "I don't know…mourn?" I burst into a fit of laughter at that. Considering the fact that he was still so weak and still had so much sarcasm, it was just too funny. "You'll never change Neji…" I could _feel_ his frown. "Is that good or bad?" I smiled. "Consider it the reason why I love you so much."

**Sakura  
**"There you go, Kiba, Naruto, all done!"

"Thank you!"

I smiled at them and nodded before standing, my knees cracking from having been crouched down for so long. I winced at it, but ignored it and watched, somewhat enviously, I might add, as Hinata wrapped her arms around Naruto's and leaned her head against his shoulder. I wasn't so envious of the fact that she was with _Naruto_. No, Hinata deserved someone who could make her as happy as he did. I was more envious over the fact that Hinata actually had _someone to love_ while I didn't. Mine was somewhere else, craving power to kill his older brother. Now tell me; what the hell do you see wrong with that picture?

I fought down a sigh at the thought and brightened my smile. I shouldn't put the weight of my self-pity on their shoulders. They _both_ deserved happiness. So with my smile still in place, I turned around and walked out the door of the living room into the kitchen. To my surprise, Sakurambo was sitting in there talking with Karin and Lee. At the sight of me, they smiled, and all conversation ended. "Hey!" Sakurambo greeted cheerily. "What's wrong sis?"

A frown crossed my features. "What makes you think something's wrong?" She smirked. "I can _feel_ your pain." My scowl only deepened at that. "And how in the hell can you _feel _my _pain_?" I made quotations. She grinned. "That is something I cannot discuss with anyone other than you and Ino…and Tenten and Neji…but only cus I used it on them…oh there I go being all abrupt again! Gawd I just practically gave everyone the answer!"

My eyebrow rose all on its own. "Umm…okay?" She shook her head, a small smile on her face. Before I knew it, she was up and dragging me out the back door. "Wait, Sakurambo, what the hell?!" She looked over her shoulder at me, her blue eyes meeting my own green ones. They seemed to send me a message, a message that I heard very _clearly_ in my mind. _'We're only going outside, calm the fuck down. Gawd, you'd think I was trying to murder you!'_ She must've seen my shock because she let out a laugh and pushed me out into the yard before slamming the door behind her.

Her face turned caring and soft instead of staying it's bubbly, cheerful self. "Alright, what was going on between you and Uchiha?" I frowned and raised a brow, trying to play cool. "What do you mean?" She frowned right back, making me think that I was staring at my altered reflection. "Sakura, I can _see_ what's going on in your head. And I'm seeing blue; and you're usually a very pink-ish red person. What the hell is wrong? What did you have with that Uchiha guy?"

Shaking my head, I crossed my arms. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing."

"Saki, don't lie to me. You know damn well I can access your mind easily."

"Right…I forgot about that…"

"So you gonna tell me or not?"

I might as well, right? She'd get the truth out of me one way or the other. With that, I turned and walked over to the cherry tree that rested in the center of the backyard. My fingers found the exact center and I let a bitter smile cross my features. "Right here…" I looked over my shoulder at her and saw her raising a pink eyebrow in question. "What about it?" I signaled her over, and she came quickly. Surprisingly, I had no tears welling in my eyes. Well, it shouldn't have been so surprising. I'd probably cried my limit. Any more crying and I might die of dehydration. "This spot…was where Sasuke and I…"

I shook my head, not willing myself to go on. There was a stab, a pang, in my heart, that told me to keep going. I had to admit it to myself. "Where Sasuke and I…"

"Kissed?"

Sakurambo finished it for me. I nodded without looking at her or meeting her gaze. "You loved him, didn't you Sakura?" Again, I nodded, but didn't glance at her. "I had a feeling that you did." This time, I did look at her, and I was frowning. "Umm…what?" She smiled, although it was a soft, sad smile. "I felt it when we fought. I knew it from the instant I saw you through the sniper hole. I saw you guys kiss, and even more, with the closer you got, the stronger I felt your emotion hit me. Although, unlike you, I recognized what it was immediately." I shook my head in disbelief. This had to be a lie. "What do you…How?" She simply smiled softly at me. "Sakura…I've known that feeling for four years…except that back then, it was weak and more like a liking than it was love…"

Another frown. "Umm…what do you mean?" A soft sigh escaped her and her blue eyes locked with mine. "I'm talking about Sasu…"

My eyes widened on their own and I let myself fall back on the tree. "Wait…what?" Sakurambo smiled at me, this time more warmly. "Sakura, you more than liked Sasu; but it wasn't so strong. It was more like that 'first love' type thing. I felt it back then, but even so it was such a weak love. So when I saw you with Sasuke, I felt a full-force all out love. And Sakura, you yourself know in the back of your mind that Sasuke does love you back…" I shook my head. "No! You've gotta be lying!"

She shook her head and crossed her arms. "I know you love him…and he loves you…Sakura I don't know when he'll be back or how he'll be. But I sensed it by the way he was watching you while we were fighting…he loves you…" I frowned. "But I thought you could only hear my thoughts and emotions." She shook her head. "No; I can sense things from others too…it's some weird shit that happened to me after first grade with Ino and her exorcist studies…" We shared a solemn look before she continued. "Basically; it's a way of reading people's emotions and determining whether they're lying or hiding something."

I blinked for a few seconds before I let that sink in…and then;

"Ooooooh…"

"Yeah…"

I shook my own head. "Wait a minute! So that's why you're so good at predicting what a person's next move is! You can feel it in their mind!" She smiled at me and nodded. "Yep; that much I owe to Ino. The rest I shall kill her for…" I laughed at her comment and smiled at her afterward. "Sakurambo…" She raised an eyebrow and smirked. "If you go all fruity on me and say thanks, just know that I am going to slap you into next week." I frowned and glared playfully at her. "Yeah well I'd love to see you try it cherry!" She grinned at me this time. "Let's go for it them blossom!"

And we went at it, like the sisters that we weren't.

**Temari  
**I pursed my lips and frowned, examining my situation and assessing it to think up my next move. I couldn't rush into this because then I would be captured; but if I didn't do anything I'd be at a loss…what the hell could I do? "Hurry up, Temari!" I looked back up and glared at Shikamaru. "Shut up, Genius! Unlike you, it takes the less fortunate time to think!"

He smirked back at me. "Don't you mean the less intelligent?" There was a pause, in which I took in his words, and then, "Fuck you!"

"Are you offering?"

"Ugh! No way in hell would it be to you!"

"But you _are _offering, just not to me!"

My glare deepened and I full on wished him an early death. "You're damn stupid…" His smirk only widened at my comment. "If I'm stupid, then what are you?" I smiled now. "A genius!" He gave me a questioning eyebrow. "Then why don't you make a move?" My smile fell and I crossed my arms with a pout. "Because I don't know what to do…"

"Exactly."

"Fuck up."

"No thanks; I'm guaranteed my rights."

"Fuck you."

"You still offering?"

"Grrr…"

"Grrr?"

"Yes, grrr!"

He looked at me as if I were the weirdest thing in the world and then smirked. "Okay." I rolled my eyes and went back to my original thoughts. How could I make it out of this predicament? A sigh escaped me. _Maybe I should just give up on this…_

Before I could stop myself, I took the checkerboard and flung it across the room into a wall, the pieces flying everywhere. "You're a dick Shikamaru…"

"Correction; I _have_ a dick. I'm not one myself."

I grinned. "Really? There's some news I would've never expected to hear!" I said cheerily. He raised an eyebrow again. "What, that I'm not a dick?" I shook my head and let out a small laugh. "No, that you have one." And I smiled sweetly at him as he twitched. I could tell so damn easily that his ego had shrunk just a little bit. Without much warning, he stood up, grabbed onto my wrist (I rushed to grab my fan and let out a happy little cry when I got a good grip on it), and pulled me out the front door, taking the keys off the hook as he pulled me out. I simply blinked in confusion and let him pull me out, shutting the door behind me.

Strangely enough, I liked the feel of his hand on my wrist. It was warm and soft. "Umm…where are we going?" I asked him when he pushed me into the passenger's side and got into the driver's seat. I immediately took offense when he began to pull out of the parking space like a psycho running away from the police. "HELLO! The only person who can drive that fast in this car is _me_! You're gonna wreck my baby!"

He looked over at me for the briefest instant and shook his head before looking back to the road. "You're not the only expert driver." My frown deepened. "You don't know how drive, hell at least you _shouldn't_. You're like, what, fourteen!?" He raised an eyebrow but kept his eyes on the road. "And you're sixteen. What's so wrong with it?"

"You don't have a license!"

"Neither do you!" He shot back at me, now speeding past the stop sign at the end of the street and turning the corner.

"But I'm at least legally the right age."

"Not like you can drive around without an adult in the passenger's side anyways."

"Alright, but I can easily qualify for a license."

"Yeah, if you cock a gun to the guy's head and threaten him to not tell the others how fast you were driving."

"Okay you know what, just shut up!"

"No thanks…"

"Respect your elders, dammit!"

"I would if you didn't act so childish!"

He took another sharp turn, and pulled into a place that brought back memories from middle school. The park…

"I am _not_ childish!"

"Yes you are."

"Am not!"

"Are too…"

"Am not!"

"Are too…"

"I am _not_ childish; I'm anything but!"

"Says the sixteen year old girl arguing with her fourteen year old crush."

That made me freeze before I started, leaving me stuck in between stopping and beginning. "Umm…what?" I said weakly. He looked over at me, no sign of a smirk, and no sign of amusement in his eyes whatsoever. He was completely and utterly serious, not a single sign of a joke or argument in him. "You heard me. I'm pretty sure I didn't stutter." I shook my head, gaining back only a smidge of my composure. "Oh no! I do _not_ like you."

In turn to this, he got out of the car, calmly yet briskly walked over to my side, and pulled me out of the passenger's side. "You're denying it. That's the first stage." My eyes widened bit by bit as he pulled me into the park, locking the car with the keys as we edged deeper into it. "Shikamaru I don't like you!" I squeaked out. Squeaking? Shit! That meant I was lying. "You're lying Temari."

Damn genius! "I'm not lying." He glanced over his shoulder at me. "Temari, you are in desperate need of an acting class." Okay, that hurt. I glared at him as he finally dropped my wrist and turned to face me. "I don't need an acting class because I'm not lying." My voice got all squeaky at the end. "Temari…" The look on his face made my heart stop in its tracks and then speed up tenfold. "Shit don't look at me like that!" His lips were in a small pout and his face in a frown. "Why? Guilty conscience?" I shook my head. "No! It's just…" I fought the blush that threatened to overcome my cheeks, although it appeared anyways.

"What?" I shook my head and plopped down, expecting for my butt to come into contact with soft grass, but it, instead, hit arched wood and I let out a loud yell. "OUCH! THE HELL!" He looked down at me, an eyebrow raised, and I couldn't help but think that he looked absolutely adorable, and so damn cute, and just…

Shit. Well maybe I liked him just a little bit.

_But we've gone over this; you __**love**__ Shikamaru_ my mind screamed at me.

Okay, maybe I liked him a lot. But attraction was just a mental thing, right? Infatuation was a state of mind.

_Infatuation is, but love is not_ my heart screamed at me.

What was it with my internal organs all confusing me and shit? Gawd, they didn't let me think freely…which made no sense considering the fact that my brain was one of those organs. I glanced up at him, and he leaned down to look me right in the eye. "Temari, are you okay? You look like you're beginning to question yourself…" I leaned forward and rubbed my lower back. "I just hit my ass on what must be the hardest bridge ever created. I'm just peachy. And I am not!" I smiled on the last part and he smiled at me. It was so sweet, so tender, and at the same time so amused. It was breathtaking, and it made my heart squeeze super tightly.

His eyes locked with mine, and beyond that genius and intellectual composure, I saw the cute, innocent, fourteen year old boy that had such a hold on me. "And now you're accepting the fact that you like me…"

I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of letting him know that I liked him, but I couldn't help it. Without so much as a warning, I leaned into him and let my lips connect with his. He didn't pull back. As a matter of fact, it seemed like he was expecting it to happen, because he kissed me back easily. I tentatively licked his bottom lip and he calmly allowed me entrance. His tongue met mine and the kiss immediately took an entirely different turn toward a more hot and heavy vibe. He leaned into me, pushing me back and wrapping an arm around my waist. His other hand laid right next to my body on the wood and he pressed his body against mine. And then the most random thought crossed my mind. _Is this fourteen year old tryna do me?_

When that thought passed through my head, I pulled back just a little and took in a fresh breath of air, but that was all I had time for because in another second his lips were on mine again and he was pressing me against him even tighter than before. I let out a surprised gasp as he moved his lips away from mine and trailed kisses along my cheek and jaw. He noticed though because he pulled back and looked me dead on. It was so dark outside, but the moon illuminated his face perfectly, and I could see him questioning me. I could imagine the flush on my cheeks, hell I could _feel_ it.

"What?" I shook my head and looked him straight in the eyes. "I don't think we should." He simply smiled down lazily at me and cupped my cheek. He was so young compared to me, but he seemed to treat me like if he were a grown man and I was still a foolish teenager. He was so sweet, and cute.

He leaned down and kissed my forehead softly. "I wasn't intending on doing it anyways." That sent a shiver of relief through me, and I let my arms wrap around him and pull him down onto me. He rolled us to our sides and draped an arm around my waist. "I told you so…" I frowned and raised an eyebrow. "Watchu mean by 'I told you so'?" Those were four words I hated to hear. He smiled at me and said, "I told you that you liked me." I glared playfully at him and brought him in for a kiss, then hastily changed the subject.

"What was the whole purpose of this anyway, to get a confession out of me?"

He shook his head. "Actually that was a second part of the deal. I was talking about proving to you that I do have a dick." I frowned. "And how did you 'prove'," I made quotations, "that?" His smirk widened. "I kissed you didn't I?"

I raised my own eyebrow. "Alright but you could be a dyke." He glared at me before settling his face into a smirk. "I didn't know you went both ways. Kissing girls! Who knew?" I glared back at him. "I do _not_ go both ways! It's okay if anyone else does it but I just don't think of girls that way." His smirk turned victorious. "Alright then."

I needed a moment to take those words in.

Receiving…

Receiving…

Receiving…

Processing…

Processing…

Processing…

_Ding!_

I brought him in for another kiss. "Shut up Shikamaru…"

He smirked into my lips. "Nope."

**Ino  
**Sakura seemed to be feeling a lot better after she came in with Sakurambo. So much better in fact that both she and Sakurambo were covered in cuts and bruises that they hadn't had before they went outside. Hinata only frowned at them, but didn't chastise them. If anything, she was as glad as I was that Sakura was feeling better.

"What did you do, roll over each other with kunai and senbon poking out of your clothes?" They laughed at me and shook their heads. "No…we went at it…" I rolled my eyes. "Well no shit Sherlock and Holmes…" They both raised a questioning eyebrow and I swear for a second they looked like twins. "Sherlock Holmes is one person dumbass…" I glared at them and crossed my arms. "I know that, but you both are like two halves of a whole brain. So in other words, you share one." They looked at each other, eyes huge and blinking, and then turned back to me and grinned proudly. "Hell yes we do!"

"Ugh, I cannot deal with this twin bullshit!" They laughed at me and then bustled out of the room into the kitchen. "Gawd, someone needs to smack those two." On second thought, I was starting to like the more depressed Sakura…

_Oh shut the hell up! You know you don't mean that Ino!  
_

_Sakurambo get the hell out of my brain!_

_Make me!_

_Okay!_

And I forced her out, just like that. Luckily for me, I'd learned how to do that from Tayuya. All I did was lift a leg, think her image, and kick her ass out.

"Why are you putting your face so retarded?" I jumped about a mile in the air at Kiba's comment and turned to glare at him, a hand over my heart. "Kiba, don't do that! Do you want me to die of fright?!" He raised an eyebrow in question. "That's possible?"

My glare deepened. "Yes! It is! Too much anxiety can cause panic or heart attacks! Didn't you know that?" He shook his head, looking genuinely surprised. I frowned. "Gawd, you guys don't know shit about medical studies!" He retorted easily. "Of course not, because we didn't take college courses in eighth and ninth grade!"

I grinned. "That's brain power, honey!" He raised an eyebrow. "What kind?" My grin spread so wide that it made me close my eyes with the emphasis. "The best kind; blond!" He smirked at me. "See, now that's not brain power, that's narcissism syndrome." I glared at him. "Fuck you!" His smirk widened. "I would if you'd let me."

That made me feel slightly flattered, although I was mostly flustered, even if I hated to admit even to myself. "I don't let you because you're only fourteen!" He raised an eyebrow. "And how old are you?" I smiled seductively at him and turned around, looking at him over my shoulder. "Honey, I've been a woman for two years already." I winked and his eyes widened. I let out a loud laugh and turned back around, slapping him lightly on the arm. "I'm just joking. I'm still a virgin."

He glared at me at crossed his arms. "Don't joke like that! You had me scared!" I frowned. "Of what?" He shrugged and pushed his hands into his pockets. "That you weren't a virgin…" My scowl deepened and I raised an eyebrow. "And why would that be any of your concern." At this, he smirked huskily and spoke in such a sexy voice that I felt like melting right then and there on the spot. "Because I want to be the one to take it…" He inched toward me with every word, an arm extending around my waist and pressing me to him. I blushed a deep red and pushed against him. "Kiba!" And I slapped his chest lightly. "You perv!"

He grinned back at me impishly and I crossed my arms and turned away, fighting down the bright blush on my cheeks. "Oh! Just shut the hell up!" If anything, my blush brightened as he wrapped his arms around my waist and laid his cheek on my head. "Awe, please. You know you love me."

"No I don't…"

But he knew I was lying; and I knew I was lying. And we both knew that I just didn't want to accept that.

**  
Karin  
**I felt alone. Empty. Everyone here had someone to love; someone they could call their own and hold. Someone that they could sincerely say that they _loved_, even if they didn't realize it or didn't want to admit it.

But me?

I had no one…

Sasuke had been a cover. In order to be one of the main sluts (ugh!), you had to obsess over one of the boys and unfortunately, the only one available was Sasuke. But I never truly liked him. I'd been doing this entire thing for four years until Kunai finally came back. But I _never_ held any emotion toward the boy, and he knew I didn't. Somehow, he'd found out. And now that he was with Orochimaru, he was probably going to blab me out.

_Or maybe he's playing a you and Sakurambo and going undercover without us knowing_.

The thought drifted through my mind randomly. _Oh yeah right!_ I couldn't help but think to myself. _That's a damn lie! The only thing the kid wants in revenge on his brother!_ I shook my head, hair swishing around, and adjusted my glasses.

There was _one_ person that I could sincerely say that I had a slight crush on. But even he worked for Orochimaru. And no it wasn't Zaku…it wasn't Sai…

He was literally in Orochimaru's gang. He'd originally been one of the people we'd had to torture, but he liked what we were doing and wanted in. After a long discussion with Orochimaru and the higher ups, he got in. And we'd spent quite some time together; usually annoying each other and getting on each other's nerves…but we'd grown a liking to each other. And I think he eventually found out that I wasn't _truly_ on Orochimaru's side…he probably noticed it. He'd known me long enough to notice things like that.

_Suigetsu…_

I closed my eyes and laid my head back on the bark of the tree. I was at the park, like dead center in the park. I'd come here earlier, bored, and somewhat depressed.

I didn't want to see so many people together, happy and loving, and not have anyone myself. I suddenly understand very well what Sakura was feeling.

No…she was probably feeling worse. _How terrible it must be when you love someone…and know they love you back, but he leaves you anyway…_ I let a long, suffering, sigh escape. And for a second, I felt like it echoed off the trees, sounding much more happy though. And then, it happened again, but I hadn't sighed.

_Someone else is in this park…but who in the hell would be here so late?_

Pushing aside my poor love life, I stood from my position and listened again for any sounds. A soft laugh resounded off the bark of the trees. I listened intently, finding that it came a little ways to my right. I followed the sound easily. I recognized this route. It was one not usually taken, which was what surprised me second most.

Second because when I actually got to the source of the noise, I saw Temari and Shikamaru wrestling on the bridge. The only problem was, they were _smiling_ and laughing while doing it. In the end, Shikamaru had pinned Temari to the bridge. She glared at him playfully, and he leaned down.

And oh my gangster!

He kissed her…

He actually grew the balls to kiss her! And she seemed perfectly comfortable with it. She leaned up and kissed him back happily, feverishly. _Get out of there Karin!_ My mind screamed at me to leave. And I didn't hesitate to leave. I felt like I was intruding on a beautiful moment that belonged to those two and those two alone. I shook my head and made my way back to my spot. But I had only taken three steps when Shikamaru's voice made me snap around in shock and surprise. "We know you're there…"

My frown must've given away my question because he said, "We're in a gang, and you expect us _not_ to know when someone unrecognized has entered the area?" I bit my lip and raised an eyebrow. "Well then, if you knew I was here, why didn't you stop acting a lovey dovey and whip out your guns or some shit?" Temari grinned at me, her grin upside down though. "Oh, well because we didn't feel like it. It was obvious that it was you."

I frowned. "How'd you know that it was me?" Shikamaru let out a small sigh. "You're glasses glinted on us…" I blushed a light pink and fixed my glasses. "Sorry…I didn't hurt your eyes, did I?" They shook their heads and Shikamaru leaned down and nuzzled Temari softly. "And anyways, I wouldn't mind if anyone saw us. It's not like we're doing much anyway." She brought up her arms and wrapped them around his neck, a small smile on her face. "Umm…but you wouldn't be embarrassed if someone walked by and saw you kissing and stuff?"

They shook their heads simultaneously, as Shikamaru rolled off of her, laying on his back, his face upside down now too. "We don't really care…" I frowned, lips pouting out. "Umm…then why do you always seem so defensive whenever they accuse you of doing it." Shikamaru held up a finger. "We _acted_ defensive; doesn't necessarily mean we were." Even I caught the usage of the past tense. "Umm…what do you mean by _were_?"

Temari smiled, sat up, and turned around to face me. "Because…" Shikamaru, in turn, rolled onto his stomach and propped himself up on his elbows. Temari smiled down at him, and there was something about the way her eyes shined, that sent a pang through my heart. I easily recognized that look. "Cuz we're sort of a couple now…"

Shikamaru drew a heavy sigh that sounded neither bored, nor embarrassed. It actually sounded somewhat pleased and love-drunk. I blinked and couldn't help a small smirk grace my features. "Oh…well it's about fucking time!" Temari glared at me, reaching behind her to grab her fan. I held my hands up in a sort of mock surrender. "Hey don't kill me." I said and she smirked back at me, retracting her hand from the fan and letting it rest lightly on Shikamaru's head.

"Awwwwe! You guys look so cute!"

"Shut the hell up Karin!"

"Shut don't go up…"

"It does in my world."

"Yes, but this is earth, not la-la-land."

Surprising me, she broke out into laughter at that. I raised an eyebrow. "What the hell is so funny." She grinned at me, calming only for the time that she needed to speak. "That you actually said 'la-la-land'. No one says that anymore. And I'm not from la-la-land!" I smiled sweetly, playing along for the time being. "No…you're right you're not. You're from ditz central." I had to duck behind a random tree because in that same instant that those words left my mouth, Temari had lifted her fan and changed the entire course of the air, sending it, sharp and dangerous, in my direction. A few of the branches on the tree flew off and landed a couple feet in front of me. I couldn't help but gulp.

A small, calming breath escaped me. I looked around the tree to see her leaning her head on Shikamaru's shoulder. I smiled slightly and came around the thick bark. "Alright; alright! I give up! No more quips!" Temari raised an eyebrow and grinned brightly. I shook my head. "Gosh, I swear sometimes you are just too much Temari." She held up a thumb. "That's me hun! No one can handle me!"

"Tenten can…"

"What was that?"

"Oh nothing!"

"I got my eye on you!"

"I hope not; that sounds disgusting and painful!"

"Karin you're dumb."

"If I'm dumb then what are you?"

"A genius!"

"You're kidding right?"

"No; she said the same thing to me earlier."

Temari smiled up at Shikamaru, and then let out a small laugh when she saw his eyebrow raise. He smiled softly at her as she laughed and turned his head to look up at the sky. "Man, I wish it were brighter out." I frowned. "Why? I like the dark!" He simply shrugged and said, "I like the clouds…sometimes I wish I could be one; just floating along. They have it so easy."

"Shikamaru; they're clouds. It's water in air. They don't have it easy because they live for like three days." He shrugged again, kissed the top of her head, and said, "I'd make it last." Temari smiled. "Like you do when you sleep." He didn't answer, but I thought I saw him nod a little.

Temari stifled a small yawn. "I think it's time we got home…I'm tired."

Shikamaru, in response to her statement, got up, grabbed her hand, and pulled her up easily. "Then let's go." Temari nodded and held out her hands. "What?"

"Gimme my keys."

"You're tired. What makes you think you're gonna drive?"

"You're a lazy ass! You'll fall asleep at the wheel without being tired at all!"

"I brought us here with no problems right?"

"Alright, but I'm at the certified age for a car!"

"But that doesn't mean you have a license…"

"Shikamaruuuuu! Gimme my keys dammit!"

"Nope…"

With that said, Temari pounced, jumping onto Shikamaru just as he turned around. She reached over his shoulder desperately as he pulled out some keys with a jingle. "GIMME!"

"Gimme, gimme never gets…" He said calmly.

"It does in my world, now gimme!"

I sighed. Something told me that they weren't getting home any time soon…

* * *

_And that my friends is what we call a comic relief ending to such a long and suspenseful plot (so far) lolx..and now! Ahem; I am SOOOO sorry I didn't update sooner. This chapter was actually done by yesterday and for whatever fucking retarded ass reason, when I tried to log on to post it, the website went all "Fanfiction Login will be shut down for..." and blah! So; being the impatient person that I am, I pretty much closed the tab and went back to deviantart...ugh! Grrrr!_

_But now I'm back and the chapter's up. And all I have to say is;_

_Thanks to all who read and review please! =]_


	25. Feud

**Chapter Twenty-Five**

**Feud**

_It hurts but I never show this pain  
__You'll never know  
__If only you could see just how lonely  
__And how cold_

_And frostbitten I've become,  
__My back's against the wall  
__When push comes to shove I just stand up and scream  
_"_Fuck 'em all!" – Weezy F. Baby (Lil' Wayne); Drop The World (Feat. Eminem)_

- **Feud** -

Whispers surrounded her as she brushed back her pink hair with her hand and made her way up the cobblestone path to the front doors of the school. She was doing her best to ignore the little phrases being tossed around, but the bits and pieces drifted to her anyway.

"_I heard he left the gang."_

"_He left her on the porch."_

"_I thought he loved her."_

"_No, _she_ loved_ him_."_

"_I don't think that was enough."_

"_She shoulda done something about it."_

"_I know, maybe then she wouldn't have to act so sad."_

"_And he's going on as if nothing's wrong."_

She fought the urge to shake her head at what everyone was saying. She couldn't stand to hear them speak about her as she walked by, as if she weren't _physically there_, but more so on a screen, like a movie, and everyone was telling each other about what had happened so far. Where everyone was talking about her personal life as if it were nothing but a film to them. She clenched her fist subconsciously.

"_She shoulda done something about it."_

She had _tried_ to do something about it, but in the end, her emotions got the better of her and she broke down. The pain had been too much to bear; could they blame her?

"_I thought he loved her."_

She'd thought so too. She'd been gullible enough to believe it when he told her that he loved her, and she fought back a pained sigh at the memories that she held dearest to her heart. She didn't want to think about it; she didn't want to think of anything, not even a memory that she shared with him. Unconsciously, her hand found its way to the side of her neck, and she let it rest there.

"_No, _she_ loved_ him_."_

The memories hurt, precisely the reason she didn't want her thoughts to even bring them up. It was so difficult to completely ignore such memories. She'd thought their moments together had been beautiful, the best times of her life, but she now saw them as a curse; a damnation that had been sent down on her to cause her misery. "But what did I _do_?" She let the words escape into a soft murmur, a whisper that carried on the ears of the wind.

"_I don't think that was enough."_

The words, the phrases, the rumors going around. They weren't all meant to be cruel, but in a way they were. They pained her heart badly, terribly, making it ache with every bit or sentence she heard. The **really** bad part was the no one bothered to stop talking about it even when they saw her going by. The last few days had been a living hell and now that she was back at school, they were making it worse. What the hell was this? Did someone want her life to be this bad; forcing her into such a state of misery that she could barely think straight?

A small growl escaped her and she let her hand slam into the front doors of the school, pushing them open with such a force that they slammed into the walls behind them.

"_And he's going on as if nothing's wrong."_

And that was the absolute worst part of it all…

-** Feud** -

**Hinata  
**Sakura's state of mind was really beginning to worry me. She seemed down lately, but also incredibly angered, as if everywhere she turned someone were telling her something that made some unknown rage swell up slowly inside her.

This, I found out, was practically true, as I strolled down the halls to lunch. Rumors flickered to me from nearly every corner, all about Sakura, and Sasuke, and how he left his gang for Orochimaru's. _Well there's no doubt in my mind that it was Ami and them who got the word out…_

At the thought, a small bubble of anger built up inside of me. Those girls couldn't keep their mouths shut even if they were on the verge of being killed because of gossiping so much. I frowned, lips pursed as one of my fingers found its way to my chin. It curled there, and I'm pretty sure I looked like some genius type kid trying to figure out a genius type problem. The only thing was; I wasn't a genius type kid and I wasn't trying to figure out a genius type problem. I was a simple fourteen year old girl trying to figure out a matter of love and loss. And in this case, the love and the lost were the same person.

I shook my head and brought my hand back down to grab onto my book-bag strap. I wasn't going to stress too much on this. The basis was that Ami and her gang spread the rumor round that Sasuke left Akuri Kaze. But why would they spread the rumor around? Why would they want so many people to know about this? They could've used him as a spy; no one in the school liked Ami's group, unless it was one of the few souls who had…_messed_ with them before. Sasuke would've been a great asset; could've gotten great information from others for them, worked as their spy. But…

"And crap; I'm stressing it again!"

Something in my mind clicked though, and I felt my whole face light up on itself. "_That's it!_"

And with an excited yet admittedly angered little jump, I ran through the halls to the cafeteria. I _had_ to find Tenten and Karin.

**Karin  
**A frown came over my features, pursing my lips and furrowing my brows all on its own. Things were going oddly today. Every time I caught a glimpse of Sakura going to her classes, she seemed pissed, or depressed, and all the while very _moody_. What I didn't understand was _why_. She'd been fine just last night, the depression that she'd experienced for the first couple of days leaving her almost completely. Now she seemed…_annoyed_.

And I didn't know why. And that had me confused. Why would she be pissed? Why so distressed and frustrated and depressed if you'd been just fine the night before? But then the thought hit me, harder than the back of a gun against the back of someone's head. The solid truth came to me in an instant. _Ami…_

She was behind all this, one way or another. Knowing her, she'd probably spread the word around that Sasuke had left Akuri Kaze. She probably –

"I am going to _kill_ Ami."

The statement was so bold, so out there, and so unlike the person that said it that as soon as the words left her mouth my eyes were wide and focused entirely on Hinata. There was a glare on her face, a glare that reminded me scarily of her cousin, and a huge pout on her lips that gave a pissed-off vibe from her. "What did she do?" I couldn't stop myself from asking, I _had_ to know. It was as if someone from the Heavens had sent her down to confirm my thoughts. Hinata raised that glare to look at me, not to glare at me, but to get the message that Ami had played her strings loud enough to piss even sweet little Hinata off.

"The evil little witch has been going around spreading the news that Sasuke's left Akuri Kaze." I fought back a bitter smirk; I'd been right on that part. And then another thought occurred to me. "Wait, but _I_ haven't heard any rumors about Sasuke leaving, and rumors are all over the place when they're in this damned school." I frowned again, and Hinata answered my question completely and entirely, almost immediately after I'd asked it. "Maybe that's because she didn't _want_ you to hear." I frowned. "What exactly do you mean?"

Hinata let out a little sigh and her sharp gaze was directed toward where Ami and her friends usually sat. "Tell me, how would you feel if you heard someone talking about Sasuke leaving the gang in a public hallway where everyone could hear?" My scowl deepened. "Pissed the fuck off." Hinata smiled bitterly at me, a strange sweetness and patience in it that I didn't quite understand. "Now tell me Karin, what would you have done if you'd heard these rumors?" I shrugged. "Blamed Ami." Her smile was still in place as she said, "And what would you have done to Ami?"

And that's when I realized Hinata was a damn _genius_. She'd solved their little plan quickly, in what I was guessing her way over to lunch from her last class, while it would've taken somebody else about half an hour. "I would've killed her." I said without hesitation. Hinata's smile seemed frighteningly sweet for a moment before her sharp gaze turned icy at Ami's table. I looked over my shoulder and saw that Ami and cronies were taking their usual spots. I raised an eyebrow and turned back to her. "Okay, but why would Ami spread the rumor around is what I wanna know. I mean, it's not like she's stupid enough to let an opportunity for a spy to slip past her. She knew we wouldn't tell anyone because she knew we'd feel ashamed for letting him get away and join up with them." My scowl deepened even further and I pushed the glasses up the bridge of my nose.

Hinata's smile was back in place, a look that gave her a senile edge that I'd never seen before. "But maybe that's how she wanted it in the first place. And maybe she wasn't so dumb that she could easily see what we couldn't." At this, I raised an interested eyebrow. "What do you mean?" Hinata's lips curled upward, broadening the bitter smile. "Think; if we were ashamed, think who it would come down hardest on." Realization dawned upon me. "Sakura…"

She nodded and continued. "And that meant that being as ashamed as she was, she would lose her self-confidence and duck in the shadows. She'd be too publicly humiliated to show her face around here, and people would mock her for it and turn against her, as any student body would against any kid with a low self-esteem. They'd bully her, and she'd be too scared to fight back; for fear of being humiliated all over again. And she wouldn't have the nerve to fight anyone else, including the girls she hates so dearly." That smile, the senile part of it turned semi-psychotic. This was a side of Hinata I'd never seen before in my life, and I said I wasn't sure I wanted to see.

"It's the perfect mental and emotional breakdown…" I said, head turning to look over my shoulder again at Ami.

Hinata's smile never faltered and she nodded twice. "Yes, but not only that. Let's also not forget that Sasuke's fan-girls go for whichever side he's on, whether it's for better or for worse. They'd want to join in Ami's gang to be near him, and that would strengthen their numbers and the gang itself." Despite the way it was all being laid out for me, I felt a slight sense of confusion. "But her gang is already big; there's exactly fifty-two girls…fifty-one now that I'm out." I glanced up at her, and saw that she was still smiling. "Yes, but they know that they're going to need a lot more members if they hope to stand a chance against us. Fifty-one girls was weak against us the other day, but that's because the girls in Ami's gang aren't strong. Individually, they all have about the same strength as a twelve year old girl. So she needs numbers to strengthen her power, this way she could stand a chance. And plus, it strengthens Orochimaru's army too, and that would satisfy him, more than her dirty body could, and therefore make him possibly regard her as a higher ranking official when he actually goes for his takeover. Not only this, but these girls, just by hearing that Sakura and Sasuke had such feelings for each other, would turn against Sakura of their own accord, simply because she accomplished what they couldn't. And they'd go and try to hurt her all on their own, with or without Ami's gang. And eventually, the invitations to join the gang would go out."

My eyes widened. This girl really _was_ a damn genius. She'd gotten down to _every last fiber_ of their plan and solved it in matter of minutes. She was good; really good. It was no wonder she was the strategist; she had a brain like Shikamaru's that girl did. She didn't exactly plan the next two hundred steps as soon as one was completed, but she didn't let herself fall behind either. She'd guess an enemy's defenses, strategies, and come up with a tactic against it. She was powerful all on her own, but with this knowledge, Hinata was a force to be reckoned with, a force that could beat her opponent _easily_. "Hinata… you're a genius kid." She smiled at me, but it wasn't one of those sincerely embarrassed smiles she'd give whenever someone complimented her, and she didn't blush as she usually did. Her smile was…too sweet, psychotic even.

And then the next few things that happened were like a movie played in fast forward. Hinata got off the circular seat so fast that it seemed as if there was thunder to accompany the movement a few hot seconds later. Her hands were balled tightly into fists as she pounded on the cafeteria floors in her cute white flats, her uniform skirt swaying wildly with every step she took toward Ami's group. At about a distance of twelve meters they looked up and saw her coming, and broad smirks spread out on their lips. "Oh, look who's coming. It's the weak little rich girl." The words were venom and thrown at Hinata so loudly that _I_ heard them, and I was across the cafeteria from them. Hinata didn't appear to have heard them though, because she had reached their table at the precise moment that Ami's words had ended and the small group she usually kept let out rude, mean chuckles.

Before anyone could even sense what was going to happen, Hinata reached over the table, brought her fist across Ami's face and snuffed her so hard that Ami fell out of her chair and rolled along the floor a little, blood spattering on her tray. Shock registered on not only Ami's face, but on every face in the cafeteria, and nobody was spared of the surprise enough to try and restrain Hinata as she put a foot on the table, flipped off, and jumped onto Ami, fists swinging wildly, and the occasional palm escaping to strike one of those nerve-numbing blows.

This was a side of Hinata I'd never seen, the side that I was scared to see, the side that was so…_Hyuga_. It was dangerous and lethal, and so _unlike_ her that it was a shock to see it even escape in the slightest. Hinata was always so kind, so sweet, and to see her utterly lose control and actually look as if she was about to kill someone would be a shock to _anyone_, even people who had just met her a couple minutes beforehand.

Her skilled hands found any and all openings and took advantage of every shot possible. Ami was struggling to block her face and was bleeding right under her eye. One of her arms went limp and fell at her side immediately after Hinata's hand brushed her shoulder. Just then, loud footsteps resounded on the linoleum floors and I caught sight of Tenten hurtling toward Hinata and Ami. Her eyes were alarmed, but only because Ami's girls were closing in quickly on Hinata, and she was scared they might hurt her. But Hinata was good.

One aimed to strike Hinata in the back of the head but Hinata brought back her elbow, fist clenched, and brought the fist down to strike Ami across the face again. That punch drew blood and it spattered on the floor next to Ami's face. Tenten sped up as another girl came for her, ready to kicked her in the chin. Hinata back-flipped off of Ami and kicked the other girl, Hanara, I realized, straight in the sensitive part under her chin. Hanara's air was cut off and she fell back with a loud thud, clutching at her throat and struggling to breathe, her skirt raised so high after sliding back that part of her panties were showing.

"HINATA!"

At that precise moment Tenten flipped over the group of girls and in front of Hinata, a kunai drawn and ready, as she stood in her stance, ready for a fight. Those piercing brown eyes were narrowed challengingly at the whores that stood around her, as if saying, _"Go on and try it little bitch; I _dare_ you."_

And all this in less than a minute.

The sluts were silent for a minute, although they were still inching their way toward Hinata and Tenten, surrounding them. Shiho lunged for Hinata at a moment's notice, and a moment was all Hinata needed. She turned and struck Shiho with her lightning fast palm right in the stomach, and sent her flying back. But Hinata wasn't satisfied yet, oh no. She was still pissed and had _a lot _of steam to blow off. So with that, she hurtled toward where Shiho lay on the ground, coughing and gasping and trying to breath, and began to attack her, punching and palming her repeatedly.

There was another shout of "HINATA" only this time in a much deeper, more masculine voice than Tenten's. A blur of blond went by me so fast that I felt the wind _after_ Naruto reached her and pulled Hinata off of Shiho.

She eased immediately at his touch, but that didn't stop him from putting her over his shoulder and high-tailing it across the linoleum floor and back out of the metal institutional-looking cafeteria doors and out into the hallway in Olympic track timing.

There was absolute silence for a moment before the sounds of loud teenage chatter filled the cafeteria again. Every conversation revolved around what had just happened, how Hinata had kicked Ami's and Shiho's asses so bad.

And I couldn't help but think that no good would come of this.

**Hinata  
**Naruto.

Naruto, Naruto, Naruto.

For some reason his touch always soothed me, those kind understanding eyes always calmed me, that golden hair brought me to hold onto him. That was the exact effect that he had on me right now. He'd let me down, but I couldn't help but latch onto him, my arms wrapped tightly around his waist. He brought his arms around my neck and kissed the top of my head. "Hinata…"

I already knew what he was going to ask, and yet I found it such a surprise when he asked it. "What were you thinking back there?" I took a shaky breath, shaky because I still had that intense anger burning somewhere inside me, and let my shoulders sag as I hugged him. "I was thinking that Sakura didn't deserve something like this." I didn't need to elaborate because I knew that he knew what I was referring to. He pulled me tighter to him and he asked, "I don't understand; how did you just lose it like that?" I shrugged and buried my face in his chest. "I don't know if any of the girls have told you this but I am _not_ the right person to anger." I bit my lip, half-expecting him to pull away from me and half-expecting him to give me a look of disgust.

Of course; he did neither.

As a matter of fact he let out a small sigh and held me even tighter. "Hinata…" He stopped for a brief moment, as if groping for his next few words, choosing them carefully. Finally he came out with: "Okay, I know this is gonna sound disrespectful but…you look so damn hot when you're pissed off…"

Despite what had just happened a couple of minutes ago, a bright blush adorned my cheeks and I bit my lip, a small smile coming onto my face. The anger in me began to dissipate and I let out a small giggle. He laid his chin against the top of my head and I could feel him smiling himself. "I love you…"

My smile only broadened. "I love you too Naruto…for some reason you always know how to make me feel better." His smile turned into a broad grin. "That's because I know _you_ Hinata." Another giggle escaped me and I held him tighter for the briefest instant before the cafeteria doors swung open and out came Tenten, a few hairs coming out of her buns and her expression worried. I already knew what was coming.

"Hinata…what did they do to you? You haven't lost control like that in _years_."

I stepped out of Naruto's arms, missing the warmth and comfort of them as soon as I did, and held Tenten's curious gaze steadily. "They were trying to hurt Sakura…"

Tenten pursed her lips and put a finger to her chin. "But Sakura can handle herself, I mean you know she's a phenomenal fighter." I frowned and shook my head. "Maybe physically, but they were trying to hurt her _emotionally_. Why else do you think they've started up all these rumors? It's because they want Sakura's mentality weak." Her eyes widened and pretty soon I saw a flash of anger somewhere in her eyes, but it was gone as quick as it had come. She shook her head and said, "Hinata…I…"

"You're shocked?"

She nodded and let out a small sigh and then a little laugh. I raised an eyebrow, confused. "What's so funny?" She looked up at me, eyes twinkling in a sort of grim manner. "The look on Ami's face when you delivered that first punch. I swear she was so surprised it looked like she'd just found out that fucking random men can increase your chances of getting an STD." I frowned. "Wait but doesn't everyone know that?"

She put her weight on her hip and looked me full on. "Hinata, it's Ami…really?" I blushed lightly but let out a small giggle myself. "She was surprised?" She nodded enthusiastically. "_Very_. And man you just _had_ to see her face after you did all that to her. She was just in shock but there was blood _everywhere_. You broke her nose and lips and I think you knocked a couple teeth out. And you gave her two black eyes that are gonna be like the size of Jupiter by tomorrow because you broke her nose. And I swear I think she's temporarily paralyzed because of how many times you hit her with the gentle fist." Hearing about how much damage I'd caused her made me let my mouth drop open like a fish. "I did all that?"

Tenten nodded again and placed a proud hand on my shoulder. "You don't usually lose control like that, but when you do Hinata, it's _epic_…when you're not coming against us, at least." I blushed heavily at the last part and I prayed to the Heavens that Naruto didn't hear her. That memory was not something I wanted to relive. It was painful and embarrassing and yet a part of me had to admit, hilarious. But the whole reason it was hilarious was because of what made it embarrassing.

Unfortunately, Naruto did hear it, and didn't bother not asking. "What do you mean by 'when she's not going against you'?" I couldn't fight the blush that seemed to darken ten shades at the question and Tenten let out a small laugh herself. "Oh, it's nothing really, just that the first time Hinata ever lost her temper it was on me and Sakura." My blush darkened and Naruto's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Really?" Tenten nodded enthusiastically. "Why?"

_Oh God, he's really asking her this._

Tenten just smiled and said, "Because she was tired of me and Sakura fighting…" Naruto raised an eyebrow and then turned to look at me. My blush was so dark by now that I actually felt faint in the first few seconds of the rush of blood. He let out a small laugh, a bright smile on his face, and he pulled me to him, arm tight around my shoulders. "Ahaha I love you, Hinata." He buried his face in my hair for a second and then turned to Tenten. "What did she do to you?" Tenten's smile broadened genuinely. "Umm…something along the lines of what she just did to Ami." Her smile turned slightly amused, a quiet humor twinkling adorably in her eyes. "We all just laughed it off afterward." Naruto frowned. "You didn't fight back?"

Tenten looked absolutely horrified at the idea. "Oh God, no! I would never hurt Hinata! She's too adorable and innocent and she doesn't deserve to be hurt." She smiled sweetly at me and I smiled back. "So we just let her whoop our asses." She let out a small laugh and turned her sparkling brown eyes on Naruto. "She is adorable when she's whooping ass though." As if to prove her point, she brought her hand down on my head and ruffled my short hair. I let out a small giggle and blushed lightly as I pushed my hair back into place.

She let out a soft sigh and then her expression showed slight worry. "Well Hinata, there's only one thing to do with you now that you've practically destroyed Ami." I blushed again. "What?" I asked. She shook her head once and said, "Get you the hell outta here before you get suspended." I couldn't help but laugh as she grabbed my hand and hauled my down the hall, with Naruto tailing close behind.

**Sakura  
**I was disgusted at what I was about to do. It wasn't like I wanted to but I had to make sure that Hinata hadn't killed them. So, holding back all nausea, I sauntered over to Ami and placed two fingers on the side of her neck. A couple beats was all I needed to reassure myself that she wasn't dead. She was hurt, oh yes, I could easily see the pain on her near-unconscious features, but she was alive. (Damn; I was kinda hoping for the opposite!)

More nausea swept over me, but I ignored it and walked over to the sluts that were lying down, unconscious themselves. I gulped back a particularly strong wave and knelt down and felt their pulses. I let out a small sigh when I realized that they were all alive. It wasn't necessarily relief though it was more disappointment than anything. They were going to be just fine; emotionally scarred, maybe, but physically perfectly fine.

A hand clasped down on my shoulder and I turned to see Sakurambo standing there, free hand on her hip. "Well…I guess this just means we still have to deal with them." The one good thing about the connection we had was I never had to say what was on my mind out loud. "You gonna be okay?" She asked me, but I was certain that she knew my answer. "…I…just don't know…" She gave me a reassuring smile and patted my shoulder. "Downhill or uphill, I'm here for you." I smiled at her. _Yeah, only because the connection forces you to be._

_Fuck up_.

I let out a small laugh and pulled her into a short, sisterly hug. "Sakurambo you crazy bitch, where would I be without you?" She glanced over at me slyly, and a smug grin crept onto her face. "Don't say shit Saku!" But, as usual, she ignored me. "You'd be in an institution for mental people." Okay, I had to admit, that made me laugh like a hyena. "Why do you say that?" She shrugged. "I guess I've always been your conscious." I looked over at her with what must've been the biggest WTF look I'd ever worn. She just let out a loud laugh and a broad grin graced her features.

She opened her mouth to say something but the sound of cafeteria doors slamming open made everyone turn their heads sharply to face the entrance.

I'm pretty sure my jaw hit the floor when I saw Tsunade walk into the cafeteria in all her glory. Her long blond hair was pulled into two low pigtails at the nape of her neck and her hazel eyes scanned the area, until fully landing on me. "You!" She pointed straight at me as well, and for a second I didn't understand.

And then I looked around me and noticed that all the sluts were bloody and bruised and battered, and scattered around _me_.

And I had blood on my fingers.

_Oh fuck I'm screwed._

_Oh yes you are…_

**Temari  
**I pushed open the doors to the cafeteria and my mouth fell open. Everyone was silent, staring at me, as I stared at what was most likely half of Ami's gang thrown around on the floor, battered and bloody and completely beaten. "Oh…shit…"

I looked around the crowd of students and my eyes found a pair of sparkling sapphire ones. I'm sure there was a question in mine, and she caught it easily. She nodded once, and I turned and was off. I knew everyone's eyes were on me, but that wasn't a matter. What was a matter was finding Hinata, and finding Sakura.

_Oh shit. Hinata went wild and Sakura took the blame. Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit, fuck, damn! _

Classrooms blurred by as I turned another corner and made an abrupt stop at the glass sliding doors of the principal's secretary's office. A flash of pink going into the actual principal's office was all I needed. I slid the door open and shot through, not even bothering to close it, and gave the secretary a hasty smile before pushing through the door of the principal's office.

She didn't notice me at first, or if she did, she didn't show it. She kept on lecturing Sakura, who's face was livid and serious.

" – in their right mind would take on twenty-five other girls at a time! And you left them so injured! I should have you suspended! I should have you _expelled_ for what you've done!"

Sakura raised a hand, but Tsunade ignored it completely. "You don't deserve to be in a school if this is what you're going to do, even if it's a school as shitty as this one!"

Whoa; major eye bugging from me.

"You'd better start packing your shit into your bookbag, and I'd move back to Suna if I were you because - !"

"Oh my fucking gangster will you shut the fuck up!"

Heh heh, there goes Sakura. I had to hold back huge guffaws at that, but it was so damn hard. I never thought in a million years that I would see Sakura yell at a teacher, much less a _principal_.

Tsunade seemed frozen, her pointer still in the air, and directed at Sakura. Blossom raised an eyebrow. "Oh wait, ex_cuse_ me. I didn't mean to get all loud, but your lecturing was getting on my nerves. If you're gonna try to spazz, spazz right. Like so…"

She cleared her throat, and was off.

"First of all, I don't know why the fuck you're yelling at me when I'm RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU! See how much you like it. Second of all, those damn whores deserved it because they've been picking on me all day, and I've been sick and tired of it. Bullying is against the law, right? So why the fuck don't those little bitches get in trouble? I wanna know! If I'm getting expelled then those bitches should be fucking arrested! Third of all, you know I have the utmost respect for you, hell you're my favorite administrator, but I don't appreciate you yelling in my face and threatening to expel me. You and I both know that you wouldn't dare do such a thing because I'm one of the key players to the high test scores that this school's been getting lately, and you've been getting more money for the school. Expelling me is a gamble, and we all know what luck you have with that, _Legendary Loser."_

Oh gangster, she went hard body with that.

"Furthermore, I'm your apprentice, and I've been the best damn medical science student this school's ever had. Add to the fact that you can't expel me because me and my girls know your little secret."

Oh gangster; she went there.

I chucked a kunai at the video camera. We couldn't risk anyone hearing what Sakura was about to say. Tsunade tried to play dumb. "What are you talking about?" But there was no mistaking the way her eyes narrowed. Sakura simply smirked. She had Tsunade cornered. "I know about your history with Orochimaru."

I gritted my teeth. Even great people had dark secrets.

"What are you talking about, Haruno?"

Down to formalities. She was getting nervous.

"You were his girlfriend at one point, weren't you?"

Tsunade frowned. "That was over thirty years ago."

"Wow, you're that old?"

They ignored me entirely and continued.

"But you still were his girlfriend. And you were his second in command, his head medic. You were the female leader for his gang, weren't you Tsunade?" Tsunade's head turned down slightly, but she kept quiet. "There's no denying it. One of our girls found records of you while working undercover. He proposed to you, didn't he? But you declined, and dumped him, and then you left the gang and tried to play innocent. You went to college, became a teacher in medicine, and then you became an administrator. Even when you were in the gang, you had excellent grades, so there was never any suspicion. _Everyone_ knew you were involved with him, they just never knew you were a part of his gang. There was absolutely no suspicion, so your life was great. You just had to make sure that nobody blabbed you out to the cops, right? You became known as the Great Tsunade, Legendary Loser, and Legendary in general. You make an amazing doctor and surgeon. You've got a brain like no other. So that's why I know that you and I and Temari all know that once you're in the game, honey…" She paused for a second and smiled serenely.

"_There's no way out_."

She had a huge point there.

**Karin  
**"Holy fucking shit! I never knew you could drive!" I couldn't help myself, the words escaped before I could fully process my thoughts. Tenten turned her attention back for a second and grinned broadly. "Heh heh, I can't."

…

"Oh shit…"

_Vroom_

**Hinata  
**Tenten had my eyes bugging out of my head. She was an absolutely terrible driver and not terrible as in she kept almost-crashing into other cars and…objects. She was a terrible driver in the sense that Temari had rubbed off on her a little too much. She was going about a hundred and twenty miles over the speed limits, both on the freeway and off. They said Temari was a demon in the wind whenever she went by on her motorcycle, so Tenten was nothing compared to her driving, but she was still pretty fast.

And right now, we were all struggling not to scream; she was going a hundred and twenty on an empty street (thank Kami-sama it was empty) when the current speed limit was twenty-five.

"Hang on tight everyone, we're almost home."

_Again, thank Kami-sama_.

**Temari  
**We were now sitting in Tsunade's office. Sakura was smiling somewhat triumphantly, the slightest hint of a hidden smirk behind it. Tsunade just seemed frustrated and defeated. "So, Tsunade; what's it gonna be?"

The blond wriggled in her seat a bit, casting her eyes downward, and let out a long suffering sigh. "Fine then. You have detention tomorrow." Sakura smiled and did what I never expected her to do.

She reached into her shirt and pulled out her gun. "You sure about that? You see, I want to get into a good medical university, and I don't want to go in with any black marks, see. So…I ask again; what's it gonna be, Tsunade." The blond looked down at the gun for a moment, eyes wide, and then she laughed loudly.

"Oh my! I haven't seen one of those in so long!" Sakura raised an eyebrow and cocked the gun back at an angle, aiming it at Tsunade's head. She pulled back the safety with a gratifying _click_.

"Answer me!"

Tsunade waved a hand off at her. "Eh, fine! You're off the hook. You're going into whatever university you get into with a black mark regardless, though."

At this, Sakura froze. Her green eyes widened. "Wait; what do you mean by that?" Tsunade let out a great yawn, as if the topic bored her (but we all knew she was trying to play it off, trying to seem unfazed when she was absolutely frazzled by the fact that we knew about her history with Orochimaru). "Honey, you've been in this gang of yours, this infamous gang of yours, for how many years now? And since the gang is so well known, it's no secret that you're in it, honey." She smiled softly, although it was obviously serene.

Sakura's eyes fell downcast. "Oh…right; forgot about that." Her voice cracked the slightest bit, but when she looked up, her eyes were determined. "Doesn't mean I won't get in though. What university _wouldn't_ want me? I mean c'mon; look at me! I'm adorable!" And then all three of us laughed and the problem was resolved.

Sakura tucked the gun safely back into her shirt and pushed her back over her shoulder. "So…are we free to go?" Tsunade grinned. "This isn't prison but go ahead." She let out a small chuckle at her joke as me and Sakura turned and exited. Tsunade's secretary, Shizune, gave us a kind smile. "Would you like a pass back to class?" Me and Sakura gave each other a quick glance and smiled. "Um, no thank you; we'll just be on our way." Shizune nodded and smiled again. "Understood."

We left the office and turned left, instead of right, toward the back doors of the school. We weren't going back to class regardless, so there was no need to alert the teachers and lie. No one but Kunai and Akuri Kaze parked their cars out back (cuz we're VIP!) so we didn't have to worry about anyone going back with us.

What I didn't expect to find was Neji, Shikamaru, and Kiba all leaning on the car. As soon as the metal door slammed closed behind us, the boys lifted their head. "Well it's about time you got her." Shikamaru drawled out lazily. I frowned and stalked over to him, wrapping my arms around his arm. "Oh hush; it's not my fault little miss not-so-goody-two-shoes spazzed out on Tsunade and held us up for so long." At this, all three boys snapped their attention to Blossom. She blushed heavily. "Oh shut the fuck up Temari; let's go! I want to know what happened to Hina!" I shrugged. "Fine; but I'm driving!"

Neji shrugged and tossed me the keys. I grinned and slid my fan out of its holster and got into the driver's seat. "Why are you taking it out of the holster?" I frowned at Shikamaru. "I always do; it's uncomfortable to sit with a four and a half foot fan on your back." He shrugged. "Whatever." I slapped my forehead. "Why do you ask then?" He gave me a look as if the answer were obvious. "Curiosity…" He said with much sarcasm. I glared at him playfully while Kiba and Neji got into the back seats. I jammed the key in the ignition and started up the car.

Sakura got in, slamming the door closed shut behind her, and we were _out_.

**Karin  
**I was twitching.

_Twitch, twitch._

I was sure I was twitching.

_Twitch, twitch._

I was **positive** I was twitching. And it was all _Tenten's_ fault. I turned to look at her, eyes narrowed, as she came up the steps to the porch. She raised an eyebrow at me, hands and keys to the car in her pockets. "What?" I frowned at her.

_Twitch_.

"You have got to be the worst driver in history!" She glared at me playfully and then laughed. "Ha ha not on a bike." She winked. I frowned. "You drive motorcycles?"

She shook her head. "Once before but oh hell nah! I meant bicycles." And then she laughed again and went into the house, twirling the keys on her finger.

"Fucking psychotic bitch…" I muttered. She poked her head back out the door. "What was that?" She glared I me. I grinned sheepishly. "Heh…heh, heh, heh…_nothiiiiiiiing_." She raised an eyebrow at me before she did the ever-famous _I'm watching you _sign and disappeared from the doorway. I laughed a little at that before a screeching sound on the street made me freeze for a second and rush to cover my ears. "DAMMIT! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" I opened one eye to examine the situation but both eyes bugged out and popped open at what I saw.

The Lexus that the guys owned was twisting and turning down the street, out of control, before it lurched to a stop in front of the house. Out of the driver's seat came Temari, a wicked looking grin on her face. In the back I saw a flash of pink clamber over someone before Sakura came rushing up the steps and into the house, a hand clamped over her mouth, a rather green look to her. I raised an eyebrow in question for a second before I got it. "Oh…"

_Twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch_.

"Temari…how fast were you going?"

She looked over at me. "Huh? Oh! A little over one-fifty."

_Twitch times infinity_.

I had to cover my eye so no one would know I was twitching. "Why the hell were you going so fast?" A twinkle in her eyes was all I needed to know. She said what was on my mind. "Who drove my car? Please say it wasn't Tenten."

I grinned. Cha-ching. "It was Tenten."

She slapped herself on the forehead before her eyes grew a sort of weird fire in them. She stalked up to house and through the front door. There was absolute silence for a few seconds before a loud scream reached my ears. "TENTEN YOU FUCKING BITCH HOW MANY FUCKING TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU NOT TO FUCKING DRIVE MY CAR! GRRRRRRR!"

"HOLY SHIT!"

And then the sounds of crashes and skin contact came.

_Super twitch times eighty times infinity_

"Tenten and Temari?" Neji and Shikamaru asked me simultaneously. I nodded weakly. "I feel pity for whoever gets fucked up more…"

Both boys nodded and looked into the door absently.

"Well? Are you going in?"

My eyes widened in horror at Kiba's question. "Are you fucking crazy? Do you _not_ hear that?"

More crashes and screams. He shrugged. "It's not that bad." As if to prove his point he stepped inside.

But as if to prove mine, he came back out ducking two seconds later. "Fucking psychotic bitches threw a vase at me!" He twitched too.

"HEY! TWITCH BUDDIES!" I couldn't help but shout.

He looked over at me and twitched. "What?"

"Ahem; nothing." I said and blushed darkly. All three boys looked down at me, puzzled.

"Karin, are you okay? Are you on some new medication we should know about?" I glared fiercely at Kiba, who was laughing crazily at his own joke while Neji and Shikamaru held back their own laughter.

I raised a finger and opened my mouth to retort.

"For the - !"

**Bang!**

" – Oh shit! Guys!"

They didn't need me to tell them. In less than three seconds all of us had our guns out and pointing at the pitch-black Ford that belonged to Sai's gang. I clicked back my safety and blasted an entire cartridge out at them. They shot out right back but missed because I either dodged all of them or my bullets crashed into theirs, canceling out both.

"What the fuck is going on?"

Tenten…

**Tenten  
**As soon as I stepped out of the door I had to drop down to avoid a bullet. I pulled out my gun and aimed at Sai's gang through the gaps in Neji's and Kiba's legs. "Fuck! What the hell are you dickheads doing here?" I shouted but no one heard me. They were too busy fending off Sai's gang. I didn't miss a single shot I made, they all broke the windows of the car, shattering them, and making it easier to get to the actual people.

I rolled back and got onto my feet against the wall. I hurriedly edged my way down the hall to where the girls were. Hinata, Sakura, Temari, and Ino saw my face and immediately whipped out their guns. "What's going on?" I let out a low growl. "Sai…"

They all nodded understandingly and rushed back to the front of the house with me. They clicked back the safety, pointed, and shot. The **bang** that erupted from their guns matched mine perfectly and the bullets hit the car…well theirs' did; mine hit one of Sai's guys.

That's when they all came out of the car and running at us. _"Perfect_." I purred out, and I meant it.

They gave me a perfect shot at all of them. "Move!" I shoved Kiba out of the way and shot down half of them in one go. They all came at me now and I smirked and pulled back my trigger.

No bang; no bullet.

"FUCK!" I was out of bullets already? Oh well.

I hurriedly shove my gun in my bra and got into my stance just in time to grab the first guy that came at me and throw him against the wall. I saw the girls all freeze, scared to shoot for fear of shooting me. "Go get your shit! Some clothes and your toothbrushes! We're leaving!" Neji looked down at me from where he was at. "Where?" I smiled. "Staying over a friend's house isn't a one way street, now, hun."

He nodded and I turned around and nearly got snuffed by one of Sai's guys. I glared at him menacingly and tripped him. He fell back and rolled down the porch stairs. I smirked as the next guy came at me and attempted to hit me in the gut. I dodged it easily and grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. "Well at least Sasuke did _one_ thing right." I grabbed his other arm, put my foot on his back, and pulled until I heard the loud _crack_ that assured me that I had broken them. I smirked and let him drop to the ground. I turned to Neji quickly. "Go get Temari's car out back and get your asses to your house!"

His face contorted into one of worry. "But then you'll be left here to fight these guys all alone!"

My smirk widened. "Okay? You know I like a challenge."

"But Tenten - !"

**Bang**.

That one nearly got me, but I dodged just in time. I turned to face my enemy, shouting "GO!" over my shoulder at him. He gave me one last worried look before he ran into the house, Kiba and Shikamaru following after him.

I smirked wildly at the guys in front of me. "Alright little bitches; time for the fun to start!"

I pulled the extra gun from my waist holster and aimed.

_Click, click; _**Bang.**

* * *

Sorry it's so late! But I just graduated from the eighth grade (ClassOf2K10! whoot whoot! Freshmen of '10-'11! lmfaoo] and I've been showered with graduation getaways and jetskiing and such stuff that you don't wanna know about! But I'm SOOOOOOO sorry it's late =( I'll try to upload the next chapter tomorrow or the day after; I'll try my absolute hardest, kay?

- _Much Love;_ **xoxo Kiana** 3


	26. Arrival

Chapter Twenty-Six

**Arrival**

_So I got a bad bitch mentality  
__Cuz I just came from another galaxy  
__I be with the president up in the White House  
__And if we in the Oval Office, then it's light's out_

_Cuz I am the wicked witch  
__I'm the Nick-star  
__And I keep a bad bitch on my jickster. – Nicki Minaj; I Get Crazy_

- Arrival -

She smirked at the group of guys in front of her as the bullet penetrated through one's chest and knocked him over. She loved the challenge of uneven odds, especially when the odds were against her. She raised an eyebrow at them. "So?"

And they all charged at her. "You fucking bitch! You have no right to shoot at us!"

**Bang**.

The bullet got him in the mouth, blood gushing out and dribbling down his chin as he fell backward and grabbed at his mouth, moaning out in pain, although it came out gurgled from all the blood in his mouth.

"I have as much of a right as you do."

She dodged the punch that one of them threw at her, flipping backward and kicking him in the chin. He was knocked back a couple feet and stunned for a minute. "Good." Another came charging at her, a knife gripped tightly in his hand. He attempted to stab her in the forehead. She let out a gasp and ducked under it. "Oh shit!"

A quick turn with her leg out and he was down. She took the knife from his hand and roughly shoved it into his gut. "There you go. See how much you like it." She winked at him as the blood poured from his torso and dodged a heavy blow from another large attacker. She smirked up at him and put the gun to his torso. "Good night."

**Bang.**

She pulled back the trigger.

He let out a harsh scream before his breath left him, and he fell back, unconscious and bleeding crazily.

Her smirk was cocky and psychotic, but most of all, angry. The first guy she'd knocked over came hurtling toward her. She smirked and pushed herself down and slid under him, bringing up her leg and kicking him where a man should never be kicked. He let out a scream much like a girl's and fell to his knees, his hands on his crotch as he let out grunts of pain.

She got up and smirked at him. "Try having kids now you fucktard…"

"My, my, my; aren't we the feisty one?"

She tensed at the voice that uttered the words and looked over her shoulder, oh so slowly, at the Sasuke-look-alike. His hair was down, as usual, but there was something about his eyes; they seemed…darker…colder.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "How's your life, Sai?"

He gave her one of his infamous fake smiles. "Oh, mine? It's been quite good lately actually; other than the part of you stabbing me in the back, it's been excellent. Especially since I have a new acquaintance."

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And who would that be."

He smile was fake, and behind it she could easily see the hatred that he harbored for her so. "Why, I think you've met before. Say hello to my good friend; Mr. Sasuke Uchiha."

"Oh shut the hell up Sai."

That voice didn't make her tense, it made her freeze. Her eyes widened about three times their normal size. "Oh no you didn't…"

Sai smiled again, his eyes boring into hers. "Oh; but yes I did."

And out of the black Ford that had stopped on the curb came none other than Sasuke Uchiha. She narrowed her eyes at him. "What great timing you have, Uchiha…" Her words and voice were cold, cutting through him like ice. There was a distant memory of where her words had been warm to him, and sisterly-like.

"Why do you say that?"

Screw it; she had no last name, so he'd have to go on a first name basis with her.

She smiled serenely. "Why because; it was just the other day that I promised to fuck you up and drag you back to Sakura…do you remember her? Or have you forgotten her already and gotten with one of your dear Ami's whores?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. How could he forget Sakura? Just the sound of her name made his heart pound a thousand times a minute. He smirked though, and looked her straight in her chocolate brown eyes; those eyes that had once shown him an endless kindness, a sisterly love, a friend's tease. "Sakura? Who the hell is that?"

She smiled back, falsely, as falsely as the girls that were against this girl did. "Oh gangster Uchiha…"

He blinked and she was past Sai and in front of him, a kunai at his throat.

"You have no idea what you've just gotten yourself into…"

- Arrival -

**Sakura  
**I randomly shoved some of my clothes into a duffel bag and threw some shoes into the side pocket. The only thing I really paid attention to when I put it in the bag was my school uniform.

"So I take it they didn't expel you?" I shook my head at Sakurambo's question and zipped up my duffel bag before I opened the bedside drawer I had and pulled out my AK, my revolver, and a couple pocket knives and kunai. I threw them all into another side pocket and zipped that one up as well. I made sure everything was zipped before I slung it onto my shoulder and darted into the room that Hinata and Tenten shared.

Hinata had two book-bags; one zipped and from the looks of it _stuffed_ with clothes. The other she had she was stuffing with a few shoes; hers and Tenten's. Despite the situation, I smiled serenely and picked up the book-bag that she had already stuffed. She looked up at me for a fraction of a second before she went back to shoving shoes into the other book-bag.

As soon as it couldn't expand any more she zipped it up and slung it onto her back. "Okay, I'm ready to go." I nodded. "Then let's go. We can't go out through the front." Just the thought of how many guys Tenten was fighting alone (I knew she had sent Neji, Shikamaru, and Kiba back because I could hear them near the back of the house). "We've got to go through the back. That's where Temari's car is parked anyways." She nodded and we both ran out of the room and down the stairs as quickly as possible. I caught a quick glimpse of the front door and turned my head away quickly, dashing even faster for the back door.

Because Sasuke going against Tenten was the last thing I wanted to see.

**Karin  
**He was here. I knew he was here. And I had a sincere feeling that Tenten was whooping his ass, and _bad _too. And if not, then it was the other way. Both were a danger to fight, because both were incredibly skilled.

A loud **bang** was heard through the walls of the house and I couldn't help but frown.

_Tenten, you better whoop his ass._

**Tenten  
**Breathing was getting harder. He barely gave me breath breaks. You'd think that after someone in your gang trains a guy well enough to actually stand a chance against the gang _leader_ he would let the leader catch their breath, but noooooooo. Ungrateful bastard.

He came at me again, swinging for my temple. I ducked and trip-kicked him, knocking him on his back. I smirked and barraged him once in the stomach before sitting on him and putting the same kunai to his throat. "I'm gonna bring you back you chicken-ass-haired bastard! Just watch." He glared at me for the nickname and deep in the glare I saw a hint; a remnant of a few days ago, when he and Sakura couldn't stop flirting, when he openly showed his affection for her…sometimes. When he would endlessly tease me and Neji.

And I froze. I stopped.

_Sasuke's still in there…_

That stopped me, only for a couple seconds, but it was enough for him to push me off and get the upper hand. He pulled out a knife of his own and put it to my throat. It sliced my skin just the tiniest bit but that was all he had a chance to do because I kicked him in the gut and knocked him off me.

"OH HELL NO! I KNOW YOU DID _NOT_ JUST CUT MY THROAT!"

I charged at him, kunai clutched tightly in my hand. "You wanna play that way?" I let the kunai fly, and it embedded itself into his upper arm. I smirked. "Try holding a knife now." He smirked right back though. "I don't know where you learned to count but just remember; everyone has _two_ arms and hands."

Another kunai went flying, but he was quick. He dodged it easily and came at me, pulling out the kunai in his arm and claiming it as his own. His blood drenched the tip, but that didn't stop him from trying to get me with it. I gasped and ducked as he swiped at my head with the knife. I took advantage of my position and punched him in the gut, knocking the wind out of him. He winced and clutched his gut, giving me perfect alignment to kick him upside the chin.

He took a couple steps back from the blow, but recovered quickly and glared at me, eyes blazing with a sort of power I'd never seen before, a cold, cruel power that surely hadn't been there a few days before.

I glared at him cocked my gun out, aiming it at him. "You lost, Uchiha…"

"I wouldn't be so sure."

Fuck; I'd forgotten all about Sai.

And I never noticed he had a gun.

How did I know now? Well it was because the cold barrel was pressed against the back of my head. I closed my eyes and let a small smirk escape, despite my situation.

"I admit; that was a good move."

I could feel him smirking behind me. "Same goes for you kissing me and then stabbing me."

Sasuke smirked back at me, a coldness and disliking in him that I'd never seen before in him; at least not directed toward me. I raised an eyebrow at him. "What? Do you find this amusing, Uchiha?"

He sauntered over to me, pulling out a gun on his way and _click_ing back the safety. As soon as he reached my, he put the barrel to my forehead. His cold onyx eyes bored into mine. "No; I find _this_ rather amusing."

I turned my head, and the guns slid to my temples. And yet, the smirk was still on my face. "Truth be told, I find this kind of fun." He raised an eyebrow at me. This was probably Sasuke at his cockiest. "Oh? And why is that."

**Bang**.

I ducked and kicked Sasuke in the chin again, sending him flying back. "Because I just killed two birds with one stone."

All the while Sasuke had been inching toward me, I had lowered my hand and aligned it with Sai's side, although not connecting the gun to his skin so he wouldn't sense the gun. And right when I had my chance, I got him.

_Dead center_

I smirked and darted over to Sasuke and barraged him. He raised his head and looked at me, an eye closed from the pain. I smiled at him. "Another time Uchiha; I promise you this. Another time, I will drag you back, whether you want to come back or not."

He glared up at me. "And why the hell would you do that?"

My smile fell and I was suddenly cold and serious. "Because if you don't come back, I might never see Sakura be Sakura again…"

Something flashed in his eyes for a second, but he quickly hid it. Could it have been pain?

_No; I'm imagining things._

Tires screeched against the pavement and I looked up to see Temari throwing the passenger's side door open. "TENTEN! YOU CRAZY BITCH! GET IN HERE!" I couldn't help but grin as I darted down the steps, looking over my shoulder once and mouthing to Sasuke, "_Another time_."

His eyes narrowed as we pulled away, around the corner, and toward the city. They stayed on the Porsche the whole time; but not on me.

- **Arrival** -

He narrowed his eyes. The pain in his stomach hurt like hell, but he was ignoring it. He'd seen her in classes, but he'd had to act as if she wasn't there at all, because if he teased her, argued with her, threatened her, even _acknowledged_ her, he knew he would break and go back.

And that was something he simply could not do. He had to do this.

He _had_ to.

"_Another time_."

The brunette was gone, into the car. The car that held his attention, but only because his beautiful cherry blossom was in there. He struggled to make eye contact with her, but she caught him looking and sent a sharp glare his way. It was a look that blazed with electricity and dislike, dislike so great it was almost hatred. But it was all fake; he knew it.

She wasn't as good as he was at hiding her emotion. Deep in her eyes, in that instant before she looked away, he saw the hurt, the pain, and the love.

And then she'd turned away from him, as if turning her back on him, and the car turned the corner, as if to emphasize her point.

He closed his eyes and let out a breath he didn't even know he'd been holding.

_Sakura, I love you._

_Forgive me._

- **Arrival** -

**Hinata  
**The shock in the car was imminent; I could _feel _it. I was sure everyone had seen Sasuke there.

But I'm pretty sure that no one other than me and Tenten saw what happened between Sasuke and Sakura. They had a moment; a super-quick moment, where their facades had cracked just a bit a little emotion had leaked through to each other.

Regardless of whether he was on that side or this one, he still loved her, and she loved him. It was beautiful but destructive in its own way, to both of them. It could emotionally mess them up at times and at other times bring them such incredible happiness.

But then the moment was over, and we were speeding deeper and deeper into the more abandoned part of the city. I hadn't been down by this part in years.

Temari drove for a couple more minutes before she stopped in front of a shabby looking house at the end of an abandoned cul-de-sac. It was the only one that looked as if it was inhabited. It was the only one that didn't look too abandoned, as if there was something special in this house.

The guys all got out of the car, leaving the doors open so we could come out as well. I looked up at the house as soon as I was out and realized how big it was. It had a decent sized porch, with the stairs coming up at the sides, not directly in the center. It was fenced around it, as if it were a balcony. The front door was think oak, old and worn, but still pretty good looking.

And the house itself was a plain shade of white. _Well Neji is their gang leader after all._

"You can take the kid out of the Hyuga, but you can't take the Hyuga out of the kid…"

I smiled. Tenten probably knew what I was thinking as soon as she looked at the house herself. Tenten let out a small whistle and then a laugh before she followed Neji inside. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders just as they went inside. My smile widened just the slightest.

Naruto grinned. "Hey! I can do better than that!"

I blinked and blushed deeply as he threw me over his shoulder and carried me inside like that. "Na – Naruto-kun! I'm wearing a skirt!"

Naruto: O_O

Me: 0.0

Neji: (

Tenten: xD

Naruto froze, and I could _feel_ Neji glaring at him. He quickly put me down, fixed my skirt for me without taking into consideration that feeling around my skirt might just make it worse for him, and darted out the door. "DON'T KILL ME! DON'T KILL ME! DON'T KILL ME! DON'T KILL ME! DON'T KILL ME! DON'T KILL ME! PLEEEEEEEEASE DON'T KILL ME!" Was all I heard as soon as he stepped out the door.

And then Neji was out and after him. "Naruto; I'm going to KILL YOU!" I twitched as Tenten started laughing at the other end of the dark hallway. I made my way over to her as the sound of the others laughing outside reached me, along with a few **bang**s that simply could _not_ be good.

But as soon as thefirst **bang** sounded, Tenten had whipped out her gun and gone out after Neji. "SHIT! DON'T LITERALLY KILL HIM, YOU FUCKTARD!"

I twitched again and darted outside to see a three-way deadlock. Tenten had a kunai to Neji's throat and Neji's gun was cocked toward Naruto's forehead. I winced at just the thought of Neji pulling back that trigger.

That hidden anger was rising up, and I struggled to fight it down.

"What in the hell are you doing?"

Epic fail…

Everyone froze and turned to look at me as I blushed about a thousand shades of red.

"Umm…excuse me?" Then they all laughed at me; well all except for Neji. He just glared twice as intensely at Naruto. "Oh, so you've got her cursing now? You dumbass, do you see how bad of an influence you are on my cousin?" I shook my head. "Nononono! Neji-nii-san, he's not a bad influence!" Neji looked over at me. "Really? Since when do you curse?"

"Never…"

"Exactly…"

"But Neji-nii!"

"What?"

"You can't kill one of your own gang members; especially not one that can fight so well!"

He lowered his gun just a smidge and Tenten eased her grip on the kunai. His glare was everlasting on me. I hated having to be so Hyuga; but I glared right back, a glare that easily matched his.

He raised an eyebrow at me, and I raised my own.

"Hinata?"

"Hmm?"

"You're creeping me out."

I didn't answer Naruto; I continued on with my Hyuga glaring.

"Nii-san."

"What?"

"You're not the only Hyuga here; don't you forget that."

At this, he closed his eyes and smirked. "How in the hell could I forget? Whenever I look at you, I see my own eyes. Tell me; what does that tell you?" I frowned now. "Be that as it may, you still seem to forget at times." He shrugged. "Only because you don't have the up-tight, stick-up-the-ass personality that all the elders, including your father, have."

That broke me and I fell to my knees on the porch and laughed like crazy. Everyone was in shock for the quickest second before the joined me; all except for Neji.

"What? I was being serious."

That just made us all laugh louder. Tenten put the kunai back into the strap and pulled Neji into a tight hug. "Haha ha! Neji I swear I love your stoic ass." She pulled him tighter. He looked down at her, face serious, before he shrugged and hugged her back, clicking the safety of his gun back on. Temari wrapped a forceful arm around Shikamaru's neck and grinned hugely.

Naruto came over, still laughing loudly, and pulled me into a tight hug. "I love you, Hinata." I smiled and wrapped my arms around his neck. "I love you too, Naruto." He hugged me tighter and kissed the top of my head. "I swear, I don't think there's anyone in this world like you." I blushed and hugged him tighter. Tenten was the first to stop this from becoming a hug-fest. She stepped out of Neji's arms and shouted out. "Okay, everybody; in the house, we need to talk."

Everyone complied and entered the house without a retort. We all knew we needed to talk.

"Sakura, lock the door."

Sakura kicked the door back and locked it, and then nodded over at Tenten, who gathered everyone into the roomy living room. "Alright; we gotta talk about the fight…" I narrowed my eyes. I had a feeling I knew what she was going to say.

"We have to go in sooner than planned."

Hook, line, and sinker.

**Ino  
**I ground my teeth together and let out a short growl. "Wait; so you mean we have to kick Orochimaru's ass with less time for preparation than expected?" She simply nodded, her chocolate brown eyes boring into mine; a deep grimness that I couldn't quite place.

"But…But that just makes the risk higher!" She nodded again. "I know…but we're a strong group; and plus, we've got Gaara, Kankuro, and Matsuri's gangs. They can help us."

I bit my lip. "But still, are you sure we're prepared?" She shook her head. "I don't know…but we have to. If we don't, they'll attack _us_ and _they'll_ have the upper hand." A sigh escaped me. There was a grim mood in the room, completely serious now.

She locked eyes with Neji. "You think you're ready?" He nodded without a moment's hesitation. She let her eyes jump from boy to boy, resting for the briefest instant on all of them. "Are you _all_ ready?" They all nodded without hesitation.

And then her eyes landed on us, the girls. "Are _you_ ready?" We all nodded without a moment's hesitation. "You all realize you might not get out alive."

We all nodded and she turned to Neji. "You do realize that _we_ might not get out alive either…" He didn't answer verbally, and he didn't nod. He just pulled her into a short, sweet kiss as his answer.

_I don't mind if it means helping you out, and if it means saving you_.

I bit back tears. The thought of anyone losing anyone.

Tenten pulled away from the safety of Neji's arms and stepped toward Sakura.

"I know you saw him today."

Sakura simply nodded.

"And you know that you might have to face off with him…" Sakura nodded. "Of course I know that." Tenten frowned. "You know you can't go easy on him."

At this, Sakura simply smirked. "Who said I was gonna go easy in the first place?" She pulled out her gun and cocked it to her temple. "Heh; he broke my heart so I'm gonna break his skull…with a nice little nine-millimeter." She then put the gun back into its holster and winked at Tenten, who twitched. "Umm…you don't necessarily have to kill him…just incapacitate him temporarily so that we can win the battle and bring him back."

Sakura smirked again. "And what incapacitates a person more than a bullet in the brain?"

Tenten blinked and smacked herself in the forehead. "Right…well I'm gonna walk away now…" That being said, she walked out the door of the living room and into the next room, which I was assuming was the kitchen.

A hand clasped on my shoulder and I jumped and attempted to punch the person behind me. Kiba ducked and looked up at me from his crouched position, eyes wide. "What the hell? What did I do?" I blinked and looked down at him and blushed a light shade of pink before retracting my hand. "Sorry Kiba! But you really need to stop sneaking up on me like that!" He nodded. "Will do…"

At this point, everyone was leaving the room.

"You scared?"

I couldn't help but nod at his question. He raised an eyebrow and I set my eyes downcast. "Why are you scared?" I felt tears coming. "Because…I don't wanna lose anyone."

The only person left in the room was Hinata, and Naruto was pulling her into the next room.

"But I know that with this mission, that's near impossible…"

Strong arms wrapped around me, and for a second I tensed; not knowing what to do, before I realized that it was Kiba hugging me. I went limp and weakly brought up my arms to hug him back, the tears spilling over and onto his shirt. He just held me tighter and put his chin on the top of my head. "We'll be fine." I shook my head. "No we won't. It's Orochimaru, plus Sai, plus Zaku, plus Ami, plus Sasuke." I could feel him frown and he held me even tighter.

"So it'll be tough, and near impossible for _everyone _to make it out alive; but who says we _can't_ make it out alive? There's still a possibility." I bit my lip. "Okay but the possibilities are slim." At this, he let out a soft chuckle. "And since when have we been defeated by the odds?"

Whoa; freeze. He had a _huge_ point there. Tenten nearly died; _twice_, and Neji nearly died himself. Hinata nearly died and Lee's operation (from what I heard) had gone great (he was currently recovering in the hospital). He was going to be able to walk and fight; something that wasn't supposed to have happened. He was supposed to have been paralyzed for life. Tsunade was a genius for even making the surgery a success; the fact that he would be able to be mobile was a plus. And then Sakurambo had been a spy for us without _us_ even knowing for the past four years without being caught or murdered.

And then she got Karin to join her and nothing bad happened to her. Sure, Sasuke left, but we could bring him back. All we had to do was _try_.

Just like that, my tears stopped, and I realized; _we could do this_.

And then I let out a small laugh and buried my face in Kiba's chest, a light blush coming over my cheeks, an affect from smiling so much. Kiba laughed with me, for no apparent reason, and tilted my head back and brought his lips down onto mine. The world around us froze for that moment, that moment in which his lips connected with mine.

It wasn't like any of the other times we kissed; it was a lot more powerful this time. There was just something _more_ there, something I couldn't quite place. It heated my heart to an almost unbearable flame and consumed it in an unrecognizable fire. My heart beat faster and faster, and out of nowhere, there was an eruption of butterflies in my stomach.

And then came the dawning realization.

_I love Kiba…_

The thought flittered across my mind like a little ballerina before skipping out and then jumping back in the center and glowing in neon-lighting (I had a very _weird_ imagination).

_I love Kiba. I love Kiba. I love Kiba._

It blared out in its bold colors.

I quickly pulled away from him and took a deep breath, breaking that moment of solitude that we had. The reality of the thought struck me as time progressed once again. We had been kissing for what felt like centuries, but it had only been a few seconds.

Kiba frowned. "What's wrong?" I shook my head, my cheeks warming incredibly at the cute way he tilted his head sideways. I'd brought my hands down to my chests, fists bundled tightly. There was a feeling in my eyes, a certain sparkle I'd never felt before, and it was _wonderful_.

I bit my lip, a huge smile playing across my mouth. "Nothing's wrong Kiba." I stood on my toes and pressed my lips to his, and all the feelings came back, great feelings of love and wonder and beauty. I bit his lip and our tongues met, and the feelings increased to a high. I literally felt like a junkie.

We pulled away after a little, and my eyes met his incredibly dark ones. "As a matter of fact; everything's great."

Somewhere, in that moment, I found acceptance.

**Tenten  
**"Okay so we need to call in Gaara, Matsu, and Kankuro. We've also gotta get all our weapons together and split them evenly girls." Naruto stopped me right after that. "Wait; so you're saying that all the weapons that we've seen you with _aren't_ all the weapons you have?" I looked over at him. "Of course not; we can't be a seven girl army without enough weapons."

His jaw dropped low before he spoke again. "But then…how many weapons do you have?"

I frowned and counted mentally in my head. "Umm…about three guns, thirty kunai, and seven pocket knives per girl." He twitched. "But then, that's about…" He stopped and began counting on his fingers.

"Two hundred and eighty weapons total; yes Naruto, I know." His jaw dropped down for a couple seconds before he shook his head. "Can I continue now?" He gave me one nod and I went on. "We've got to inform Gaara, Kankuro, and Matsuri about all that's happened so that they're not behind on everything. And we've got to make arrangements for them to stay someplace; which will most likely be our place."

Again, I had to stop for someone else to talk. "But wait; they can't go to your place cus then Sai, Zaku, and Ami are gonna go and attack them!" I looked up at Naruto again, this time a smirk on my face. "And what makes you think that Zaku and Sai wanna get in spitting distance of Gaara and Kankuro? After all that happened between them four years ago?" Naruto blinked and looked down, a shudder shaking his body at the mere thoughts of what could've happened. My smirk only widened as Sakura took over the rest.

"And what makes you think that Ami and her sluts are gonna get in shooting range of Matsuri?" At this, Karin shivered and put a hand to her head, eyes going wide in horror. "Oh hot damn; I remember that day…" And she shivered again, and Naruto looked back up at me, understanding ringing in his eyes. "Okay, I get it." I nodded and continued. "And then we have to set an appropriate date so that all this shit can be ready by then and attack and be precise on that day, cuz one little slip up could fuck everything up."

I let out a loud sigh and threw my head in my hands. "Oh my fucking gangster; this is a lot of work."

Then I let my head drop and bang on the table, ignoring the pain that shot through my forehead. I felt Neji's hand on my shoulder and felt a sort of short-lived relief flood through me. Hinata spoke next, her soft voice ringing throughout the silence in the room. "Do I need to make any plans or strategies?" I opened an eye and looked up at her. There was a light blush on her pale cheeks, but there was a sort of determination in her eyes. I couldn't dare break her confidence. "Go ahead hun; but just know that usually with this, nothing goes according to plan. We usually wing it." She smiled, regardless of what I'd just told her, and nodded. "I know." She said cutely and let out a small laugh.

Another sigh escaped me and I shook my head. "We have to do all this quick…if not, it'll be too late." More silence. I guess that was a sign for me to go on ahead with it. Standing up from the table, I pulled out my phone and walked out into the backyard, pressing number three on my speed-dial.

-**O**-

Long and tiring; those were the only two words I could use to describe what the four-way conversation with Gaara, Matsuri, and Kankuro was. Explaining everything to them and answering all their questions was tiring, because there was so much information that had to be passed on, but in the end, everything had been passed on, and they were going to be leaving Suna tonight, setting out as soon as the clock struck twelve.

I know it sounds cliché, but it was probably the best hour to drive around in Suna, because it was dark, like pitch-black and visibility was at a minimum; and risking the chance that one of their rival gangs might see them was not a good idea, because then they'd have to stop and fight.

A sigh escaped me and I felt a familiar, warm hand on my shoulder. "Something the matter?" I shook my head at Neji's question. "No, just tired. And people say gangs are unorganized. Pfft, they can go kiss ass. We can't help it if we plan stuff and other gangs fuck it up, so we have to go all out of order." I wasn't looking at him, but I knew he was fighting back an amused smile. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me to him. I closed my eyes and leaned my head against his chest, comfortable despite the fact that we were standing. He kissed the top of my head, his other arm snaking around my back. "Don't stress too much."

His voice was so velvety and soothing, that I just wanted to melt and fall asleep right there. I let out a deep breath, and answered him, my tongue feeling thick and heavy. "But I have to stress too much, because if not then we're screwed over and Orochimaru wins…and we all die and Sasuke gets away and I won't be able to see Sakura die happy _because_ he gets away and I have to slap myself a thousand times over before I die and drag myself to try and kill him and put him next to Sakura so they can die together, and that's a lot more stressful than this is." There was a silence, a silence in which Neji blinked feverishly in a frown, and I could feel his mind saying, '_What the hell?_'. I nodded against his chest. "Exactly." And then I let out another deep breath.

My legs felt like lead and my eyelids felt heavy, but before I could drag myself up the stairs to my room, Neji picked me up bridal style and kissed me on the forehead, carrying me into the living room. He gently set me down on the couch and sat next to me, kissing me on the cheek this time. Despite being so tired, a smile crept onto my face, before I fell into an incredibly peaceful nap.

-**O**-

"TENTEN! YOU FUCKING LAZY BITCH GET UP!"

I let out a tired moan and a growl raged loudly from my throat. "Shut the fuck up, Kankuro." I let out a small breath and tried to find peace to go back to sleep; it had to be about three in the morning already.

"You see, this is why I say women are weaker than men."

I was at his throat with a kunai in a flash. "Ex_cuse_ me?" He grinned that boyish grin of his, dark eyes closed as emphasis, and he brought up a hand to scratch the back of his brown-haired head. "You're excused." He said. I pressed the kunai to his neck. "What did you say? Punk?"

He opened an eye, still grinning boyishly, and pushed my hand down with his. "Your violence is as effervescent as ever, I see." I glared at him before stepping away, putting a little distance between us. "And your attitude is as annoying and funny as always." He was still grinning, giving the effect of the paint on his face to take the shape of another face.

And then.

"Kankuro!"

"Tenten!"

Hugs.

Don't ask.

I threw my arms around him and pulled him into a bone-crushing hug (purposefully bone-crushing) and he wrapped his arms around my waist and hugged back just as tightly. I laughed. "You fucking crazy ass I missed your emo make-up self!" He laughed too. "Please Tenten, the emo brother is Gaara, not me."

_Boom_.

"Ow!"

"Shut the fuck up, Kankuro, or I'll rip your balls out."

I immediately let go of Kankuro and hugged his fire-head (literally, his hair was as red as raging fire) of a brother tightly. "Gaara!" He stayed very still, not hugging back in the slightest as I glomped the ish outta him. "You little emo fucktard, I missed you!" He did move with that, bringing up his fist and punching me in the back roughly. I laughed and pulled away. His jade eyes scanned the room, looking around the room. "Whatchu looking at?" I blinked and looked around the room myself and noticed that Temari, Shikamaru, Karin, Hinata, Naruto, Sakura, Sakurambo, Ino, Kiba, and Neji were all staring at me, Neji with a slightly angered expression, Naruto with a wide, amused grin, and everyone else with giant _WTF _looks on their faces.

A sheepish grin spread over my lips and I ruffled Gaara's hair roughly, my eyes not missing the scar of the Love kanji on his forehead (how could you miss it? It's fucking HUGE!). Even now it still shocked me, but only because it was still there.

Kankuro was looking at me wildly before he turned toward Neji and eyed him. "So Tenten…who the fuck is this dude? He looks like he's gonna have a titty attack any minute now…"

As per usual for Neji, he swung at the one to offend him, and Kankuro ducked, a large grin plastered on his face. He came back over to where Gaara and I were standing and looked over at me, eyebrows raised.

"The question is; _who_ are _you_?"

I giggled and walked over to Neji, wrapping my arms around his waist and giving him a light kiss on the lips. I looked over my shoulder and smiled at Kankuro and Gaara before looking up at Neji. "Okay, Neji, the guy with the red hair is Temari's little brother, who's like my little brother, Gaara. And the drag-queen with the make-up all over his face is Kankuro, Temari's older brother." Kankuro glared at me for the comment, and I grinned broadly at him in turn. Neji wrapped a protective (cough JEALOUS cough) arm around me. I blushed lightly, the grin still on my face. "And guys, this is Neji, the leader of Akuri Kaze."

"And her boyfriend," He interjected. My blush darkened just the slightest, and I prayed to the stars that no one would notice. Kankuro blinked and looked at Neji, eyes about a fraction wider than usual. "So you mean titty-attack guy is your boyfriend?" I let out an easy laugh and hugged Neji tighter. "Yeah…" He narrowed his eyes and took a couple steps toward us. Unbelievably enough, Kankuro was taller than Neji by a full head. He bent over the slightest bit and looked Neji in the eye, one of his own dark ones closed and his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth, a finger rubbing his chin. "Hmm…" He said. "You're interesting…Tenten is this guy related to Hina-chan?"

I nodded. "They're cousins…" Kankuro raised an eyebrow. "Really? Interesting…so I take it you use the Gentle Fist art?" Neji, who didn't like having his personal space invaded all too much, said, "If you don't back the hell up you'll find out for yourself." He glared at Kankuro again, who let out a loud laugh and walked back to where he had been standing. "Well then…who the hell are all the rest of the boys? And the red-haired chick?" I smiled, stepping out of Neji's arms to introduce everybody again. I stepped over to Karin, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "This is Karin. She's been working undercover in Orochifucker's gang for four years…thing is, she's so good at spying that _we_ didn't even know. We just thought she hated us so…let's just say Sakura and her had some good…uh…ass-kickings." Karin blushed but smiled kindly nonetheless. "Sup?" She waved once and let her hand drop.

But then I noticed something, and stopped. "Wait…where's Matsu-chan?"

Speak of the devil and he shall come. She bounded in through the door as soon as her name was uttered, and no sooner was she in than all of us girls glomped her, all save for Karin, who tried to hide behind Kankuro. He looked over his shoulder at her and grinned.

"Matsu-chan!" We all chorused meanwhile, glomping her much like I'd done to Gaara.

"Hello bitch!"

"Slut!"

"You fucking whore, I missed you!"

She pushed us off and stood, dusting herself off. She nodded at Sakura.

"Hello bitch."

She then nodded at Ino. "How you been slut?"

And then she nodded at Temari. "I missed you too you fucking whore."

She turned to Hinata, who waved, a light blush playing over her porcelain cheeks. "Hi Matsu-chan!" Matsuri grinned broadly. "Hi Hina-chan!"

I stepped forward and punched her in the gut so hard that she doubled over, eyes wide. "Hello prostitute. You been keeping my corner safe for me?" She grinned up at me, still doubled over, and then her fist was connecting with my gut, and I was bending over in pain myself. "Heh, yep! But you won't _believe_ how many other prosties want your shit! It's like…you left a living legend and they all want to stand where your Stilettos once stood." I laughed, which hurt my stomach, before I got up. Our fists connected lightly and I grinned. "Awesome!"

But Matsuri didn't hear that; she was busy glaring at Karin. "Oh what the hell are you doing here bitch?" Her gun was out in a second, safety off and pointed directly at Karin, who was peering around Kankuro's shoulder. "Umm…hi?" She squeaked, and then I remembered about what Matsuri had done before.

My eyes widened and I stepped in front of Matsuri's shooting range. Her gun was pointed directly at my heart. She looked up at me. "Tenten, don't you know that she works for Orochimaru?" I shook my head, smiling. "Nope; she was a spy. She's with us." I nodded my heads toward the other girls, and Matsuri frowned. "Really?"

We all nodded and she lowered her gun and stepped over to Karin, punching her lightly in the shoulder and raising her fist at shoulder level. "Welcome to the slores, hoe." Karin blinked, looked down at Matsuri's fist, and then brought her own fist to collide with Matsuri's. "Umm…thanks…but what the fuck is a slore?"

At this, Matsuri let out a small laugh. "Oh, slores are Slutty Whores put together into one word." She

smiled kindly and Karin let out a small, short laugh of her own. "Oh. Brilliant."

"Well they clicked perfectly." Sakura commented and we all laughed.

"Umm…Tenten…you never told us who all the guys were…"

I blinked and looked over my shoulder at Kankuro, who was pointing at Neji. "The only one you introduced was your…boyfriend." He hesitated slightly before the last word and I smiled. "Oh yeah!"

I cleared my throat and walked over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "The blond one who seems like he's on ecstasy because he's always so happy is Naruto." Naruto's eyes widened into a state of horror. "Oh what the hell? I don't touch myself!" He pulled Hinata tightly to him. "That's what _she's_ for!" She blushed horribly, as Naruto let her go, and Neji was at him with a gun pressed to his forehead. "What do you mean by _'that's what she's for'_ Uzumaki? I will _kill_ you!" He clicked back the safety and I let out a strained laugh, chucking a kunai and knocking the gun out of his hands. "Neji, relax, he's kidding. Hinata wouldn't let him. Right Hinata?" I turned to look over at her, but she wasn't going to answer, because she had fainted and was lying unconscious on the sofa, face as violet-red as radishes.

There was a pause for silence and then a short burst of laughter from everyone except Gaara and Neji, who were both so serious it seemed like they themselves were related.

I continued on. "This guy," I said, pointing to Kiba, "Is Mr. Inuzuka, or Kiba if you wanna go by his first name. He loves that evil white fluff-ball on his head." I said, pointing to Akamaru. "_His _name is Akamaru." I continued before Kiba could comment on the fluff-ball part. I pointed to Shikamaru, getting a really weird impulse of laughing hysterically at what I knew would be Gaara's reaction to his introduction. "And this is Shikamaru Nara, shadow-export, lazy genius, and currently, Temari's _boyfriend_."

Gaara was at his throat with a pocket knife in a millisecond.

"Have you touched her anywhere below the hips and above the stomach?" Shikamaru stared down at the point of the knife and gulped. "Umm…"

Oh shit, Shikamaru was going to die. And he was going to die, a horrible, painful, _slow_ death.

Temari whipped out her fan in an instant, all three moons showing, and a kunai in her free hand. "Do it Gaara, I _dare_ you." Gaara looked over his shoulder at the fan emotionlessly. "What do you plan on doing with a giant fan?" She smiled sweetly, and grabbed him by the back of his shirt. She began dragging him toward the front door. "Let's take this outside, shall we, brother?" He didn't fight against it; he let her drag him out the door.

And then came the noise. Luckily the neighborhood was abandoned.

_Click, click; _**BANG**

**BANG**

**BANG**

**BANG**

**BANG**

_Whoosh_

"Meow."

**BANG **

**BANG**

_Whoosh_

"Rawr!"

"If he touched you, I'm going to _kill him_!"

"If you touch him I'm going to _kill __**you**_!"

"Are you still a virgin?"

"Oh my fucking gangster, you're my _little_ brother, let Kankuro do this."

"Are you still a virgin, Temari?"

"Maybe, maybe not."

Shikamaru banged his head against the wall. "She's gonna get me killed…"

"Temari!"

"Heh."

"Are you still a fucking virgin?"

"Now how the hell does that make sense? How can I be a _fucking_ virgin? Then I wouldn't be a virgin!"

"Temari!"

"Gaara!"

"Are you a virgin!"

"No!"

"WHAT!"

_Stomp. Stomp._

"Oh my fucking gangster, Gaara, take the sticks out your ass! I'm joking!"

"Are you?"

"Yes!"

"Has he tried to get you in bed?"

Silence.

"Temari?" A warning tone.

"Umm…maybe?"

"Nara!"

"But then again, what boy hasn't?"

"Uzumaki, Nara, Hyuga, Inuzuka!"

"Oh my fucking gangster, not _them!_"

"Nara!"

"Subaku!"

"Temari!"

"Gaara!"

"Subaku!"

"Subaku!"

**BANG**

**BANG  
**

_Whoosh_

"I ask you again, has he tried to get you in bed?"

"NO!"

"Has he touched you any place he shouldn't?"

"NO!"

"Has he kissed you?"

"N - ! Wait; YES!"

"NARA!"

"Gaara!"

"What?"

"STOP!"

"I'll kill him!"

"No you won't!"

_Whoosh_

**BANG  
**

_Ching_.

The sound of metal on metal, meaning that they were fighting with knives.

I heaved a sigh and walked outside, dodging a bullet as I made my way off the porch. "YOU GUYS! STOP FIGHTING!"

"STAY OUT OF THIS!" They yelled simultaneously and both of them shot at me. I let out a slight scream and threw myself to the floor. "What the fuck!" I stood up and pulled out my own gun, and a couple senbon. I threw the senbon at Gaara and shot at Temari.

Temari swung her fan and the bullets turned with the wind currents and embedded themselves in the brick of the house. Gaara was quick, and about the only person other than Neji who could dodge my blows completely (although unlike Neji, he could dodge them _all_).

He stepped to the side and the senbon went straight past him. He raised an eyebrow at me and stepped forward a couple steps, Temari walking all the way up to me. "Now that I've got your attention, why don't you two kiss and make up?"

Temari grinned. "Okay, I'll go get Shika!"

"Shut the hell up, woman! You're gonna get me murdered!"

She let out a rather loud laugh and looked at Gaara with bright, amused eyes. His jade ones met her teal ones, and then he smirked a slightly amused smirk. "Okay, I approve." I rolled my eyes. "Gangster, and people say _I'm_ weird."

"You _are_ weird."

"Oh Kankuro, who the fuck was asking you anyway?"

He shrugged and stopped next to me, looking at his younger siblings. "Kankuro how old are you now?"

"Sixteen and a half." I raised an eyebrow and looked over at him at the "and a half" part. "You're younger than I remember…"

"How old did you think I was?"

"Fifty…"

"Awesome."

I grinned and let out a rather loud giggle. That was signal enough for Neji to come out and wrap an arm possessively around my shoulders. I blinked and looked up at him. "What?" He shrugged, his other hand in his pocket. "Nothing…just felt like coming out here." I raised an eyebrow. "Really?" He nodded. "Really."

And then a mischievous thought hit me.

"So you don't mind if Kankuro and I went into a room to have a little chat?" He pulled me to him tightly, wrapping both arms around me and kissing my cheek, Kankuro blinking wildly. "Not a chance." I grinned and wrapped my arms tightly around his neck, kissing him. "Don't worry, I love you too much to do anything like that." I smiled up at him and he raised an eyebrow and looked down at me. Behind me, Kankuro shifted the slightest. I laid my head against Neji's chest, smiling.

Then Kankuro broke the little silence that had established itself. "Hey, Panda." I looked over my shoulder at him; I didn't mind him saying it. He was the original creator of the name, after all. "What?" He smirked. "Here's an idea; me, Temari, and Gaara, against you." I was automatically alert and grinned at him. "Think you guys can handle it?" Temari and Kankuro grinned and nodded, while Gaara let out a "hn."

I smirked. "Okay then…"

"Who's your second?"

I pursed my lips and thought for a couple seconds. Kankuro interrupted my thoughts. "How about your little boyfriend here?" I looked up at Neji, who was looking at Kankuro with an eyebrow raised. "Nah, not Neji…he doesn't know your battle strategies and such. You guys would probably wipe the floor with him." He glared at me and I shrugged. "I said _probably_. I never said they _would_." I looked back at Kankuro, who seemed to be holding back a small smirk, a triumphant look in his eyes. "I pick…um…Hinata!"

Kankuro raised an eyebrow. "You're gonna pick delicate little Hina-chan to fight us?" I grinned and nodded. "Mmhmm. She had a little problem with her anger this morning, so I'd say she needs to blow off some steam."

His face turned to one of horror and he backed into a tree. Gaara wasn't so obvious, but behind the thick film of emotionless he tried to keep in his eyes, you could see that he was afraid a little himself. Temari was grinning broadly. "Okay then!" I nodded, detached myself from Neji, walked over to the couch, and shook Hinata lightly. Her blush had receded to a light pink tint on the cheeks, so I took it she was getting better. She cracked an eye open and looked up at me. "Ten…ten…-chan?" I nodded. "Yup; you and me against the Subaku family. Deal?" She blinked both eyes open, and then blinked again a few more times, before she smiled sweetly and nodded. "Okay!"

She sat up, and Naruto, who was on the arm of the couch, pulled her into a tight hug. "Hinata!" She visibly jumped, and then let out a little giggle as Naruto pulled her closer to him, still sitting on the arm of the sofa. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean for you to faint!" And then came the kisses.

He showered her in them, kissing her cheeks, her eyelids, her jaw, her forehead, her collarbone, the tip of her nose, her lips, her neck, her temple, just about anywhere above the chest. She blushed and brought her hands up to his face, holding him as he went in for another kiss. "It's okay, Naruto." She smiled sweetly up at him and kissed him lightly on the lips. "I'm okay."

That calmed him down and he kissed the top of her head. "Okay." Then he let her go, and she let out a small laugh. Everyone else in the room was watching them with looks of awe. As in: "Awe; that's so cute!" Hinata stood from the couch and followed me out the front door.

For whatever reason Kankuro and Neji were eyeing each other quite rudely, and Temari was letting out a sigh. Gaara was just being Gaara by crossing his arms and glaring at everything. He raised an eyebrow as me and Hinata stepped out onto the porch. I smiled back in turn. "Okay, so, Hinata's here!"

Temari and Kankuro looked over at us, and Neji just looked at me. I stepped further out onto the porch and turned to face Kankuro directly, a smirk playing its way onto my face. "So; you ready?"

He looked directly into my eyes, and intensity in his that I'd never seen before, and he nodded. "Always." My smirk broadened and I pulled Hinata over to me. "You ready Hina-chan?" She nodded vigorously, a smile on her face. "Okay then." I stepped out onto the middle of the street, Hinata following.

I turned to my right and Kankuro was directly in front of me, facing me, with Gaara on one side and Temari on the other. There was a smirk on his face, a smirk that held some inner meaning that I couldn't quite place. I ignored that and reached for the pouch of weapons that I always strapped to my leg in the morning. I pulled out the first kunai and chucked it across the distance at him, although it didn't meet him. Halfway there, there was a _ching_, the sound of metal on metal, and a brief spark. He'd thrown a knife to intercept mine.

My smirk only widened as I pulled out another kunai and darted toward him.

* * *

_Sorry it took so long but my laptop doesn't get internet that works anymore =( so I had to put it on a drive (Lord only knows what happens to those things when they're with me! lmfaoo) and I had to upload it from my ancient desktop lols _

_Thanks for reading & review please =)_


	27. Test

**Chapter Twenty-Seven  
Test**

_Thought I had it mapped out  
But I guess I didn't  
This fucking black cloud still follows  
Me around_

But it's time to exercise these demons  
These motherfuckers  
Are doing jumping jacks now – Eminem; Not Afraid

-** Test **-

There she stood before him, chocolate eyes narrowed into a sly smirk that was all too playful and fierce. Her gorgeous brown waves were pulled up into two, twin panda buns, save for a few strands that she let fall out, completely straight, over her forehead as her bangs. She reached into her pouch, casting a quick look at the indigo-haired cutie behind her. Her full, pink, pouty lips curled up into a wider smirk as in a movement that beat the blink of an eye she let loose a sharp, pointed kunai.

The other brunette, the one at the other end of the street, did a sharp half-spin and dodged what would've been a very painful, but not deep or fatal, wound. Still, being in pain could distract a person.

He narrowed his own dark eyes as he then caught the small knife on the fly and threw it back at her. She ducked under it as the indigo-haired girl behind her slid to the side.

They'd been at this for five minutes already.

And she wasn't even breaking a sweat.

He, on the other hand, was beginning to breathe pretty heavily.

They were in a dance, a tango of sorts; one fought with a blade and bullets. The crowd of their friends gathered on the porch didn't faze him for a second.

Regardless of the shortness of breath he was beginning to feel, he darted toward her himself and she came at him, yet another knife clutched in her hand.

He ducked under her quick slash and tried to trip her. She jumped and used an arm to flip over his head, landing squarely on her feet and getting him with another light, quick slash in the back. He felt the hot liquid of his blood trickle down his back and begin to stain the inside of his clothes.

He didn't pay it any mind as he turned and grabbed her arm as she went in for a second slash. Twisting around in a quick motion, he let her go with a slight jerk and sent her flying. She flipped backward with what he liked to call her "Acrobat's Grace" and landed gracefully on her feet, just short of hitting the pillar of one of the houses.

There was a slight cockiness in her eyes that was unfathomable. It had absolutely _no end_. He didn't mind it. He actually thought it fit her quite cutely.

No fuck cute, she was absolutely _gorgeous _to him.

In his mental distraction of how beautiful she was to him, he almost didn't notice the thin needles coming at him and dodged barely fast enough to avoid having them being embedded into his biceps. They did slice the skin of his arm though.

She stood straight and put her hands on her hips proudly. "You're slipping, _Kankuro_." She said his name playfully and stuck out her tongue, leaning over and closing an eye.

_Tenten, you really should _not _do that in front of me…_

He fought down a heavy blush as the indigo haired girl got tired of waiting. She darted toward his blond sister and red-head brother. He paid them absolutely no mind as they lunged and darted and kicked and pulled and punched each other.

He grinned cockily at her. "I'm not slipping. Maybe _you _are just tricking me with your sinful nature." She made a clawing gesture at him, a false type of sultry look in her eye before she started laughing, forgetting entirely for a moment that they were to be fighting.

And then her boyfriend's voice broke through the bubble that had formed around him as she'd laughed. "Tenten, didn't I tell you to whoop his ass?"

Oh, Gangster, that boyfriend of hers. He promised himself that he was going to tear _his_ head off later.

Boyfriend. He mentally scoffed at the word. How long had he tried to win her heart? Only to have her be utterly, completely clueless about the love he was breeding for her in his own heart? He grumbled at the idea that this boy that she had just met barely three months ago had grabbed a hold of her so easily. And he was such a jealous, stick-up-the-ass bastard.

Kankuro absolutely _hated_ him. He despised him so for accomplishing what Kankuro couldn't. Jealousy boiled inside of him at the thought that Tenten actually loved the bastard. Because it was clear on her face that she did. Her feelings toward him were as obvious as the fact that she had brown hair and chocolate eyes.

"Oh, believe me, I'm getting there!" She smiled smugly over at Kankuro, who smirked right back at her. It wasn't like he had much of any other choice. He couldn't glare at her boyfriend, because then she would probably castrate him.

Fighting a deep sigh, he said, "Oh really? I feel fine. You cut me once; let's see if you can do it again." That being said, he widened his smirk, quite mechanically if one might ask him, and pulled out from a holster that had been hiding under his shirt around his waist a simple switchblade.

Her grin widened, making it more challenging and cocky. She reached into her pocket and, just as quickly as before, threw three more senbon at him. He skidded to the side to avoid the first two and deflected the third with his knife. Even from his end of the street, he could see her grinding her teeth together in frustration.

"What's wrong, Tenny? You're gonna ruin your pretty little white teeth like that!"

"Shut the fuck up, Kankuro!"

He laughed at the same time she did, and he could _feel_ the glares it earned him from her boyfriend. He ignored, and laughed louder just to annoy him. The glares intensified, and he reveled in the fact that he was succeeding in pissing him off.

She, meanwhile, put a hand to her stomach, taking deep, calming breaths, before she looked up and grinned at him. "Kankuro, stop being stupid! You're making me be stupid, and then you're making me laugh! I'm supposed to be whooping your ass right now!"

He raised an eyebrow, a lazy, sardonic smirk back on his face. "Now, Tenten, don't temp me!"

The white-hot intensity of the hatred and death glares being sent to him from her boyfriend amused him. He felt brash and bold, and wasn't thinking clearly. The combined mixture of his jealousy and love for Tenten turned him into an idiot.

Without a single thought toward his actions, reacting solely on what his gut was telling him to do, he turned and smirked at Neji, the Hyuga, Tenten's boyfriend.

"I'm sorry, motherfucker, is there a problem? You seem to be glaring pretty hard. I'm starting to think that you were born with your face that scrunched up and ugly." To his utter surprise, he gave him a smirk that rivaled Tenten's in arrogance, only this was concentrated with something more. While Tenten glared cockily but playfully, Neji's glare was magnified with a dosage of hatred that could be compared to that of Orochimaru, Ami's gang, Sai's gang, Sasuke, and Zaku's gang _combined_. "Oh, are you challenging me, clown Covergirl?"

_Clown Covergirl… What the fuck?_

"Dude, clown Covergirl?"

Neji's smirk widened. "I just thought that since you had so much make-up on that you'd like to be addressed by your title."

Anger surged in Kankuro as he raised a finger and pointed it at Neji. "I don't have make-up on! Unlike you, I don't need anything to make me look better, you he-she. If you would stop putting that Vampire Foundation all over your eyes and face and left it in your purse, you would be able to see that!"

"Purse? Need I remind you that I'm not the one with emo eyeliner on my eyes?"

"And I'm not the one with hair longer than my girlfriend's!"

"At least I _have_ a girlfriend!"

"Yeah, and at least I _have_ a dick!"

"The only _dick_ you have is the head up your ass!"

"At least I don't have any sticks shoved up there!"

"I wasn't talking about a head with a brain, fucktard."

"Oh, so you were talking about yours?"

"I have a genius IQ; meanwhile you have the brain of a peanut."

"And your dick is the size of one."

"What is it with you and dicks?"

"The fact that Tenten doesn't know that her boyfriend is a girl!"

"Oh my fucking GANGSTER will you two SHUT THE FUCK UP AND STOP ARGUING FOR A SECOND!"

Both boys rounded on her. "Stay out of it!"

That earned both of them a death glare that beat Neji's a thousand fold. And Kankuro couldn't help that regardless of whether she was glaring at him playfully or glaring at him for real she was beautiful. To him, she was a goddess come to earth. She had the body of one. And her eyes, the ones she hated, the ones that she thought were so plain compared to all the other girls; he thought they were gorgeous. They reminded him of hot chocolate on a winter's day. He _adored _them.

Before he could fully snap out of his thoughts, a fist connected with his jaw and it hurt. He fell back on his ass and frowned up at the person who'd hit him.

The entire time that he'd been looking at Tenten and rambling in his head, she'd been stalking over to him, fist closed and pretty much pulsating with rage.

He fought down his embarrassed blush as Neji's obnoxious laughter filled the silence that had overtaken everyone since their argument had begun.

Then he watched, in utter shock from being hit, as she turned and rounded on the guy that he hated so. "And YOU!"

He calmed from his laughter and smirked at her, a triumphant look in his eyes that Kankuro took as, "_I win, you lose; she's MINE_."

Oh how he wanted to rip Neji's head off.

But it looked as though Tenten were about to do that herself.

"What? I'm laughing because watching someone get hurt is funny."

"Oh REALLY?"

He nodded, chin resting on his fist. She marched up to him petulantly and grabbed him by the front of his collar. "It's funny to watch someone get hurt? It's funny to you! Because I recall seeing someone get hurt, watching them _die_ right in fucking front of me, and I don't remember laughing _at all_!"

He saw the look of confusion cross her boyfriend's features and felt a sick wave of triumph in himself, although he didn't show it off like Neji did, because he knew exactly what Tenten was talking about.

She was talking about her parents.

"They weren't the best people in the world but you know what; they didn't deserve to die either! They were humans, just like you, and me, and Kankuro! Laughing at someone because they're hurt isn't funny! It's horrible! Watching them die is even worse! And if you two keep this up, then the other might die during the battle and what are you going to do? You're going to regret being so rotten and rude because you know that they were a _person_ and they deserved _better_. So you know what, don't come fucking crying to me when you realize I was right!"

Kankuro could easily see the confusion on Neji's face getting deeper and deeper. He was getting the message, but he wasn't getting why he was saying it.

She let go of his collar and turned away, taking a few steps toward the steps of the porch. Neji's next words stopped both Tenten and Kankuro's heart.

"But Tenten, the dude is in love with you and he's flirting with you and you're flirting right back! How do you think that makes _me_ feel? It makes me feel like _shit!_ Kankuro _loves_ you."

Tenten turned, her full lips pulled into a tight line. "And you think I don't know that Neji? You think I haven't noticed the way he's looked at me for _years_? Maybe I just didn't wanna bring it up! Maybe I didn't want to hurt him so badly! Even though I know that one way or another it's gonna hurt him when I say that he's only my best friend, and that I don't want to be with him! Do you think this I how I wanted him to find out that I've known this entire time? Do you think I want my jealous ass-fucking-tard of a boyfriend acting like a bitch to him because he's jealous because he can't see that I don't love him in the way he loves me? DO YOU THINK THIS IS HOW I WANT TO TALK TO YOU? HOW I WANT TO SEE YOU TWO ACT TOWARD EACH OTHER?"

Oh shit; from the glint of the porch light, he could see that she was crying. Tears were slipping down her cheeks in waterfalls of clear water. Her voice was cracking.

She was suffering because of him.

And because of that bastard.

And because of all the bad memories that they both, fighting and arguing, had brought back.

She'd walked back up to him during her tirade, fists clenched at her sides. He saw the shock in Neji's eyes, but other than his eyes there was no other sign that he was indeed feeling the way he was.

_He finally gets it…_

Kankuro watched as Neji reached out to cup Tenten's cheek; watched as Tenten slid back out of his range and sent him a glare that could've been the originator of the phrase _"If looks could kill."_

"Tenten…I…"

Her glare intensified and she raised a hand to cut him off. He put his tail between his legs and stopped talking. When she spoke, that melodic voice that was usually so filled with happiness, shook with such a deep-set heartache and sadness.

"Don't talk, Neji. I don't want to hear a single word from your mouth."

"But Tenten, I can't help loving you. You have no clue what you do to me."

She closed her eyes and Kankuro could see the beginnings of red rims.

"You know, maybe you should take time to realize that not everything is about _you_."

"I know not everything is about me."

What Tenten did next shocked everyone that was watching into an almost heart-stopping state.

She snuffed Neji so hard he lost his balance for a few seconds and stumbled back, clutching his cheek in pain.

"No! You're oblivious to anything and everything that doesn't include you! Neji, you're a conceited, self-centered, bastard ass!"

He glared at her from his spot a few feet away from her.

"Have you ever considered the fact that you might just be a hateful bitch?"

That simple statement shocked Tenten into silence for a moment, and it broke Kankuro's heart to watch as Tenten's heart tore apart into billions of pieces. It shattered and ripped and broke, and he was witnessing it for himself.

And he hated it.

It wasn't just the fact that Neji had called her that, and she loved Neji with most of herself. It was the fact that her parents had called her that when she was younger, way younger, and the wounds were still healing.

The tears spilled from her eyes. She trembled with rage and sadness.

Neji realized his mistake and reached out to her again, eyes filled with regret. "Tenten, I'm sorry - ." Tenten cut him off with her own words.

"Don't bother talking to me, _Hyuga_." She spit out his last name. "I don't want to talk to you at all you fucking bastard. I _hate you_."

And with that being said, she turned and ran; away from the porch, away from the crowd, away from Kankuro, and Hinata, and Gaara, and Temari; away from _Neji_.

And meanwhile, as her heart was breaking, so was Neji's.

And so was Kankuro's.

-**Test**-

**Sakura**  
Holy. Shit.

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

That was all my mind registered at the time; I was shocked into absolute silence and stillness. I couldn't _believe_ what I'd just witnessed.

Tenten had just snuffed Neji.

Neji had called her a hateful bitch.

And Tenten had told Neji she hated him; for the first time since they'd met.

So you could say that this was my expression at this point;

=O

Oh shit! One last time.

And then one more thing registered; _really registered_ this time, and it had me turning on Neji, whose face was twisted into one so filled with pain it was hard to remember that I was mad at him. I sent him one of my killer glares. "Oh, you're a genius alright. You're a genius on how to make people feel like shit!"

"Sakura, I'm not in the mood, okay?"

"Yeah, well I don't think Tenten was in the mood either!" My voice was fierce with anger; anger that, if you asked me, Neji _so_ deserved. "As a matter of fact, she looked utterly heartbroken. And I wonder whose fault that could be!"

He glared right back at me, and then after a second, sighed and dropped his gaze. "I know, I know…I fucked up…" I had to fight myself to keep my glare in place. "Yeah, you really did! And you don't even know how!" His eyes were filled with a sadness that I had only seen in one other pair; a gorgeous onyx pair of eyes that used to shine with malice and humor.

But that was all the past now.

"I called her a hateful bitch. I know; I fucked up." My glare intensified. "Yeah, and do you know _why _that hurt her so much?" He looked back at me solemnly, and said simply, "Because _I'm_ the one that said it?" These words made me pull at my now short hair in frustration. "NO, Bastard! She's right! You've got a stick up your ass the size of China and a self-centered, ginormous ego that's inflating your head with _'Me, me, me, me!'_ and it's fucking _tiring_!" His gaze hardened. The deep-living sadness that was brewing in him didn't leave, but his eyes narrowed and he gave me an intensified frown.

When he didn't speak, I took it as a cue to tell him what he _obviously_ hadn't gotten. "She was upset because that was what her _parents_ used to call her before they died!"

Realization crashed in on him, and it was so damn obvious because of the look in his eyes. He looked off in the direction that Tenten had gone and saw him frown slightly. "Oh no, don't bother going after her. If she sees you after what you said to her, she'll probably castrate your ass!" Without so much as a glance behind him, Neji tore off the porch and around the corner of the street, following Tenten's path.

I let out a frustrated sigh and smacked my forehead.

And then I remembered that there was another, _"I Love Tenten" _club member.

I stepped off the porch and over to Kankuro, who looked up at me, looking utterly defeated and tortured. I plopped down next to him and wrapped my arm around him, leaning my head against his shoulder.

Kankuro was always like an older brother to me; he was funny and playful, but caring and kind when I needed him to be. And he was always there for me. So I decided I was going to be there for him as well.

I waved everyone off, even Hinata, Gaara, and Temari, who had all stopped fighting when Kankuro had turned to yell at Neji. When everyone was cleared out and the door had slammed shut, I turned to him, feeling pretty solemn myself. The pain is his eyes had me thinking that his heart had just been torn out of his chest, ripped into pieces, and then roughly shoved back in, where he felt the way it had broken.

I recognized that feeling because _I'd_ experienced it not too long ago.

"You gonna be okay?" I spoke softly, so as to not give him a headache along with his heartache. He wrapped his own arms around me and hugged me tightly, and I could feel his pain almost as much as he could. "I don't know," he muffled into my shoulder, and from the sound of his voice, it sounded like he was about to cry.

My big brother? About to cry? That's when you _knew_ things were bad. I rubbed his back soothingly and then pulled him to me tighter. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way, big bro." He shook his head and I could feel the warm liquid of his tears soaking through my shirt and onto the skin of my shoulder.

"I'm sorry too…She knew… This whole time, she knew, and she still doesn't love me the same." He sounded like a wounded child, the way his voice was cracking, and it tore my heart to pieces all over again. "Maybe I should just give up. I'll never love someone the way I love her." I buried my face in his neck, feeling on the brink of tears. "That's not true, bro. You know someday you'll find a girl who you'll be able to love without it hurting so much. I'm not saying it because I don't like Tenten. I'm saying because I care about the both of you."

I pulled away from him, but didn't let him go. "Tenten cares about you; yes she loves you too, but not in the way that you want her too. Just because you love someone doesn't mean that they're automatically going to love you back." As I spoke the words, my mind wandered to _him_; his eyes, his hair, the feel of his cheek against my head, the warm feeling of his lips against mine, him kissing my forehead. Memories that filled most of my free time, that still haunted me of the recent past and what could have been. "But that doesn't mean you should give up on love Kankuro. Everyone's going to hurt you; you just have to find the girl worth suffering for." His gaze was haunted with love as he looked up at me. "But I honestly think Tenten is worth suffering for." I smiled sadly at him and said, "You know, there was once a time where I thought there was this boy worth suffering for."

He immediately looked interested. He'd stopped crying, but he was still sad. Sad and interested; what a weird combination. He turned to face me and raised a brow, waving a hand. "Go on." I gnawed at my bottom lip for a second before I shook myself awake from my worries. This boy was my big brother (or like the one I never had). I had nothing to be scared of with him.

With a ginormous sigh, I let my arm drop and reflexively, as if I were cold, I wrapped my arms around myself. "Well, it started just a few months ago. When we first came here, we met Neji's gang."

Kankuro made a rather rude scoffing sound at the mention of Neji's name, but let me continue. I cleared my throat and went on. "Well there was this boy in his gang; the sole survivor of the Uchiha murder from like seven years ago. You remember that? That was _years _ago." When he nodded, I continued. "Well, I found him absolutely gorgeous. He had these eyes; from a distance they looked like charcoal, but when you were near him, you could see that they were like, onyx-colored. And his hair was…strange, but in a way, really cute. It really suited him.

"He was the one I fought to gain control over Neji's gang in our alliance, and I kicked his ass if I do say so myself." I smiled at the grin that Kankuro gave me, a grin that said, _"That's my Sakura!"_ I continued on. "Well yeah, we ended up having to train their gang, and I was with Sasuke. Since I had already fought him, Tenten thought it would be a good idea to partner us up, since I knew all his moves. Well we ended up getting really close. I had just about all my classes with him, except for A.P. Biology, but that's about it. Anyway; during school, we would talk and occasionally flirt. And then one day I blew up at our teacher and he stood up for me, so we were _both_ sent to the principal's office.

"We didn't go…instead we stayed in the hall and flirted with each other, and actually, he ended up kissing me. You will not _believe_ how happy that made me. We went on with the kissing and flirting, and I guess I could say that I was starting to develop more than just a crush on him when it happened." Kankuro frowned and asked, "When what happened?" I bit my lip and shook my head before I went on. "Orochimaru got to him; tempted him with the power to take revenge on his older brother, the guy who murdered his family." Kankuro's sharp intake of breath wasn't surprising. Not even the Federal Police knew about that. "Anyway, I don't know. Sasuke declined at the time, but he was never exactly the same after that. After that, he was actually more quiet and serious.

"Anyway, he left a little while after that. But right before he left, he did something that he'd never done before. He kissed me in front of everyone. That was around the time Neji and Tenten started going out, and I was kinda depressed because he hadn't been paying me much attention. I threw myself off a cliff to see what his reaction would be down at Akai beach, and then I swam back to shore. I got to the cliff when he was about to jump off, but nobody had heard me yet. So I scared him and he fell over the cliff. He was _mad_ when he got back up.

"I was _soaked_. I mean seriously, salt water is a lot heavier than fresh water so it's a wonder why. But anyway; the point is, I was seriously wet and cold, and when he got back up to the cliff and he saw me; he was wet and cold too. Then we started arguing and he asked me what I'd done it for and I told him that he was so indifferent that I didn't think it would matter to him and he hugged me in front of everyone and then he kissed me. But then we got cold so Hinata wrapped us in a blanket together and I _swear_ I was tucked into that thing so tight that we didn't have any space between us. That was the day I discovered that I loved Sasuke.

"And then…just like that…_poof_; he vanished…well he didn't exactly vanish, he just left. I begged him not to go, but he knocked me out, left me on the front porch, and went anyway. I saw him again today and…" I stopped, recalling the events that had happened earlier today. He'd looked me straight in the eyes, and they'd shouted a simple apology. They had seemed to _beg_ for forgiveness. "And…?" Kankuro prompted me with a wave of his hand. I shook my head to clear my haze and said, "And it hurt, but I decided that he wasn't worth it."

_That_ right there, my friend, is what we call an outright _lie_. Of course I still thought Sasuke was worth the fight, and of course I still loved him, and of course I still longed to be with him, to be able to kiss and hug him without the worry that he'd leave.

The problem was, however, that he'd turned his back on me, turned his back on his own best friend, to gain power.

And that in itself was unforgivable.

Kankuro raised an eyebrow at my ending. "So, that's it? That's the climactic end for your story?" I blinked for a second, and nodded. "You can't exactly call it climactic, because it's not like anything eventful happened. But look bro; my point is if the person chooses someone else over you, than they're not worth your attention. You'll love someone again, bro, and chances are, she'll really love you back." He pursed his lips into a frown, seeming perplexed by all of this.

Finally, he came out with, "Alright."

Now I frowned. "Alright?" He nodded, giving me an impish, Kankuro-like grin. "Yep; alright. I still love Tenten, but that doesn't mean I can't find someone else, right?"

Ooooh, now I got him.

"Right!" He let out a small laugh and pulled me to him. "Now; about this boy of yours…"

I let out a small laugh to cover the turmoil going on in my heart and wrapped my arm around his waist, kissing him on the cheek. "I love you, Kankuro."

He grinned back, kissing my head. "I love you too, Sakura."

Like the big brother I never had. Yeah; I quite liked that idea.

xXOXx

Sasuke felt his heart rip into pieces at the sight before him.

There was the Cherry Blossom, _his_ Cherry Blossom, kissing another guy on the cheek lovingly. How it hurt to see her wrap her arm around his waist and giggle cutely as he kissed her on the top of the head.

He'd bared witness to that little portion of who-knows-what they had been doing in the time they were out there alone. The jealousy and rage that boiled in his veins was nothing compared to his heartache.

He was alone again. The girl that had proclaimed her love to him just a few days ago was now sitting and laughing and kissing another guy. That hurt; no it stung, it _burned_ with the white-hot knife of betrayal. He felt angry and confused. He missed her with all of his aching heart. How he so wanted to leave Orochimaru and go back to her, to beg for forgiveness a thousand times and kiss those plump, pink lips of hers.

He wanted to hold her up against a tree and kiss her while it rained, under the cover of the cherry blossoms that had bloomed on the leaves above their heads. He wanted to be scared off of a cliff and swim back to shore just to kiss her again. He wanted to hold her in his arms and never let go, to smell the sweet combined scent of strawberries and cherries that wafted from her hair every time he pressed his cheek to the top of her head. He wanted to cup that porcelain-like face in his hands and tilt her head up toward his to kiss her. How he wanted to endlessly flirt behind their friend's backs. He wanted to caress her cheeks when she was upset, comfort her, make her feel better. How he wanted to steal kisses in the hall and be caught by security cameras. He wanted to scare her half to death to then kiss her on the forehead and make everything okay again. He wanted to hold her hand on their way to classes in school, not caring how many people saw and gaped. He wanted to feel her love directed at him so powerfully every time they kissed. How he wanted _her _to be _his._

But mostly, how he wanted to see those emerald gems of hers sparkle in the dark with love and happiness and endless kindness. These days those eyes of hers looked as though they belonged in the body of one who had lived more than a million years. She seemed much older and wiser in mentality now, and in a way, much younger and weaker in her physical state with each passing day. He'd loved those eyes of hers from the minute he saw them, regardless of whether or not he'd wanted to admit it even to himself. That was her best feature in his eyes. Not even her goddess-like body, beauty, and grace combined could compare to the intensity of those gorgeous eyes of hers.

Sasuke loved Sakura with every fiber of his being.

But if he abandoned his plan, she would never be safe. Ever.

In the end, the price of heartbreak was worth it, no matter how much it hurt.

And it _really, really _hurt to watch her tighten her arms around this boy that Sasuke had never seen before in his life. That was what made it worse for him. He was a complete stranger, an unfamiliar face to him. He'd hidden in the house nearest the woods that seemed to spread out all over Konoha, looking out of the window to witness the scene before him. He glared holes into the head of the stranger, hoping that they would actually take form there.

A guy could dream, couldn't he?

_No,_ he thought to himself. _I'm Sasuke Uchiha; I can't dream, because the whole balance of the world is out to get me and make me miserable_. It was a belief that had stuck with him when his brother had killed his family.

He shook his head and continued glaring at the stranger.

What happened next he was absolutely _not_ expecting and he would remember it for the rest of his cold life.

The strange guy pulled out a gun and turned it toward him faster than he could let out an _'Oh shit'_. He felt his eyes widen as the guy pulled the trigger. The bullet broke through the glass and clipped his arm as he threw himself to the floor to avoid the blast. He rolled back up to his feet, pulling out the gun from his pocket, and kicked open the door to the house, holding the gun out and brows furrowed into what had to have been the fiercest glare of his life.

He pulled back on the safety and watched jealously as the stranger pushed _his_ pinkette behind him, telling her to "Stay back; he would protect her."

From Sasuke? Ha. Yeah right.

He was weak from the blows he'd received earlier that day, but he was stronger than most would think; he could fight.

His smirk was mechanic, reflexive, entirely filled with false confidence.

Because inside, his heart was breaking all over again.

He could feel his Cherry Blossom's eyes on him, could hear her whisper of _"Sasuke"_ carried to him on the breeze. Her whisper was like the warning before the storm.

The guy's head snapped back to look at her as soon as she'd uttered the word, eyes widened in surprise. He then turned his head back to glare twice as menacingly at Sasuke.

But before he could pull back the trigger on his revolver, Sakura was coming at him, fist at the ready. She swung at him with the speed of an eagle in flight.

Was she always this fast?

No; only when she was mad.

"You _again?_ How many times do I have to tell you that I _hate_ you!"

She grunted out her words between blows and they sliced through him like a knife.

His mechanic, robotic smirk widened as he boldly leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead, like he'd done just a few weeks ago. He then ducked to avoid the punch she aimed at his temple and then flipped backward to put a little space between them.

He was teasing her, he knew, and it felt good to be able to do it again. He was actually putting his walls down for the time being, just being himself for the first time in the last week.

Imagine; a simple week was torture for him. Imagine a year, a decade, a lifetime. It would _kill_ him to go so long without a simple embrace, a kiss from her. He'd _die_ without her, he was absolutely sure of it.

So he'd let himself go for now, and hoped that she would take the hint.

xXOXx

**Sakura**  
He kissed me.

Sasuke kissed me.

Sasuke fucking Uchiha kissed me.

Well he didn't exactly kiss me, he kissed my forehead; but still, that's a part of me.

And it bothered me that he'd _smirked_ before and after he'd done it; like the old Sasuke used to do. It also bothered me that he was _still_ smirking at me, instead of glaring at me like he'd been doing the past few days. It made my heart skip a beat.

For some reason it had felt like forever since I'd seen that smirk; that sarcastically over-confident smirk had had me since day one.

Fuck my life; I was supposed to _hate _him!

But now I was feeling that I loved him more than ever.

Fuck my life!

Fuck my luck!

Fuck my love!

Unconsciously, entirely not meaning to, I raised my hand to my forehead and blushed lightly. His lips still left a slight tingle wherever they touched.

How I'd missed that tingle.

Without my permission, my gaze met his, and I saw a hidden message, the old playfulness that he'd once exhibited toward me. I was truly seeing the old Sasuke. And I _loved_ it. It was nice to be able to see the guy that I'd fallen in love with; _truly_ be able to see him.

But that hidden message. I couldn't quite understand it.

It had something to do with his old self. That much I could see; I mean it was obvious by the smirk on his face (even if to me it looked a little fixed and mechanic).

Still, I couldn't decipher anything other than that.

And _that_ was what made me let out a ferocious growl and swing at him again. I was blinded by my frustration and confusion, and that led me to do the one thing that was all too natural to me; start swinging like a crazy bitch.

The fact that I wasn't landing any of the swings made me even more frustrated, and I swung at him twice as fast.

A hand caught my swings and pushed my arms back with what had to be the greatest force in the world.

I mean really; to be able to hold _me_ back while I was enraged was like being to hold back the terrible combination of a tornado, a tsunami, an earthquake, and a hurricane at once.

That made me open my eyes and it immediately threw my world into chaos as his onyx gaze met mine, seeming to shout a message that I just couldn't receive. I couldn't receive it because of the simple reason that I could see his feelings toward me in the depths of those onyx eyes.

There was a wave of protectiveness, and one hell of a giant whirlpool of sadness, heartbreak, care, and love.

It was a discovery that made my knees buckle under me and sent me crashing down to the porch of the house he'd been hiding in.

I waited for the pain of the wood colliding with my knees and then for gravity to push me down to the floor so I would have to catch myself with my hands.

Neither of these things happened.

As a matter of fact, what I _did _feel was a pair of hands grabbing me by my upper arms and keeping me steady. I looked up with what I imagined had to be huge, doe eyes at Sasuke. He was still smirking as he raised that damned sexy eyebrow of his. "What? Are you _that_ shocked to see me again so soon?" He still had that old mocking tone, and that to-die-for deep voice.

Why?

Why?

That was the only word that formed in my mind at all of this.

_Why can't I forget you, Sasuke?_

Tears pooled and overflowed before I could stop them and I brought my hand across my eyes roughly.

_Stop CRYING! You've cried too much for one week! Now stop being a little bitch and break every bone in his body and drag him back! He's eight fucking meters from his old home! It's not that hard!_

But I couldn't bring myself to do it. Something in the back of my mind was nudging at my thoughts, holding me back, keeping me from doing just what the majority of me wanted to do.

There was a reason I couldn't drag him back.

That message he was trying to send me. There was something about it. I couldn't decipher it fully, but I knew that it had something to do about _why_ he'd left. I just _knew_ it; I could _feel_ the rightness of it.

Strength coursed through me and I pulled myself up and wrenched myself out of his grasp, giving him the coldest glare I could muster.

"Uchiha…"

His ego only seemed to grow at my use of his last name, and I saw the old spark of amusement in his eyes.

"If I were you, I would leave. I'm sure you don't want Sakurambo reading my thoughts and getting everyone out here." He shrugged and took a step toward me. I took a step back. "I don't mind. Let them come out here. I could use someone to let my frustration out on."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Frustration? What the hell are you frustrated about? If anything _I_ should be the frustrated one! You don't stop showing up even when it's clear that _no one wants you here_."

Sasuke stepped toward me. I didn't step back this time. I wasn't going to anyway. Why step back and show him that I was scared of what he might do? So I stood tall (at least tall for me because I looked like a midget compared to him) and faced him. He brought his hand up and caught my cheek. I repressed a shudder and met his gaze. He simply smirked and said, "That's exactly why I'm frustrated. You see Dollface, I know for a fact that you don't want me to leave, but you continue saying I'm not wanted."

I could feel Kankuro watching us, and his confusion and alert intrigue radiated over to me. He was protective of me, but for different reasons than Sasuke. Kankuro was my big bro; of course he would protect me. And it was good to have him there as back-up, just in case.

"What makes you so sure I want you here?"

He raised a finger and his eyes showed a hint of their old, flirtatious mirth. "You said it, not me." I frowned in confusion. "Huh?" He let out a laugh that was entirely his own as well as rare, and it warmed me to the marrow. "I never said you wanted me here. I just said that you didn't want me to leave." There was a bit of a gloat in that, but I chose to ignore it and raised my own eyebrow. "Okay, maybe I do want you here. But it's only because you're eight meters from your old home. Remember that? Or have you already forgotten about everyone you supposedly cared about?" His eyes softened the slightest, just like they had the day I'd jumped over the cliff; the day he'd left.

He caught what I meant by that. I knew full well that he didn't, but still it was hard to believe that he did, in fact, still care about me.

And just like the day of the cliff, he leaned in to kiss me; right there in front of Kankuro.

For a second, all I could sense was the beating of my heart and how much I longed to step up onto my toes and kiss him back. The one thing I wanted most at the moment was to feel his lips on mine; have him pull me to him while I grabbed his hair, like we'd had not so long ago yet still, in my heart, had felt like an eternity. His lips very nearly brushed mine before I caught hold of my senses and stepped back.

I narrowed my eyes at him again, shaking my head. "No, Sasuke. Don't bother trying to do that; it won't work." He raised his eyebrow again. "Oh really?" I nodded, trying to stop the fine tremors that had started up in my body in the excitement of his kiss.

"Really. Now like I said before ; _leave_."

"Fine," he said simply, and disappeared from my sight in the blink of an eye.

Like literally disappeared.

Like I didn't know where the fuck he went.

That is until he appeared behind me.

"But you're gonna have to make me go," he whispered in my ear, his lips brushing against it. I swear, I jumped about a mile in the air at the feeling of it and looked behind me to see nothing but Kankuro staring back at me, pale and mouth agape in shock.

"How the fuck did he do that?"

I shook my head. "I don't know!" I shuddered and then took in a deep breath.

"Kankuro, go inside."

I could feel his confusion and defiance from behind me. "No! I'm gonna help you kick that bastard's ass! He plays too much!"

I shook my head again. "Kankuro, I said _go inside_." The glare he sent me felt like a sting at the back of my head as I turned to look at the front door of the house. "And I said that I'm gonna help you kick that bastard's ass! So NO! I'm not going inside!" At this, I turned and gave him a look. "Kankuro! Look I know you want to protect me, but _I _trained _him_; therefore I know his strengths and I know his weakness. That means that I can kick his ass with my hands tied behind my back. For the last time, _go inside!_"

The hurt that showed in his eyes felt like a stab in the heart. I immediately felt sorry.

"Kankuro, look, I didn't mean it to come out so harsh. I'm just saying, I'll be _fine_, don't worry." There was doubt in his expression, but I could also see that he trusted me. "Alright fine. But if you don't come back in the house in _five minutes_, I'm coming back out." I ground my teeth together before I let out a soft sigh. "Alright fine!" He nodded at me and then turned and made his way back to the house.

I didn't bother making sure he went inside.

That was mistake number one.

Without a single thought, I kicked down the heavy oak door of the house and made my way inside.

That was mistake number two.

The _bang_ that sounded when the oak hit the floor echoed inside the house.

Well fuck, I didn't really care now.

I stormed inside so quickly that my hair was swept back by the air that pushed past me. I quickly scanned the living room, kitchen, and dining room on the first floor, checking twice to make sure that he wasn't down there before I went up the next floor.

That was where things got complicated.

First of all, the stairs were old and wooden, which means they creaked like a bitch as I made my way up and echoed around the hallway on the second floor. Then, as soon as I reached the top of the landing, there was a slight disruption in the silence, a sound so quiet that had I not been straining my ears to the point of hearing ringing I would've surely missed it.

It was a moment's notice, and a moment was all I needed.

I turned in the general direction of the noise, a kunai already gripped tightly in my hand to protect me. That was when he came down from who-the-fuck-knows-where and swiped at me with a pocket knife. I stopped his slice mid-way with my kunai. The _ching_ of the metal on metal sent adrenaline through my body.

I brought back my kunai and attempted an uppercut slice with it. Sasuke skid to the side, avoiding it easily, and brought his knife around to get me in the side. I let my kunai drop down the stairs. It _clang_ed as it fell down the stairs.

Mistake number three.

Thinking quickly, I intercepted his stab by hitting the side of my forearm to his and twisting my wrist around to grab him just under the elbow. I placed my other forearm right where his elbow bent, rendering control of his arm _mine_ and bent his arm. Then I brought my leg around and pressed against the back of his knee. He fell back and wrenched himself out of my grasp, rolling back up onto his feet. He took a couple steps back to put distance between us, but it was a pretty stupid idea, because I came at him again.

He ducked the punch that I threw his way and grabbed my upper-arm with his hand. He squeezed tightly and I let out a small gasp in pain. I looked down at him smirking at me. His face was illuminated by the giant window at the end of the hall, which was left thrown open, letting the moonlight in. He turned me around and pushed me back against the wall. I pushed against him, but he was muscular and pretty strong himself.

I managed to get myself off the wall and twist him around just a bit.

That was mistake number four, and probably the worst of them all.

His smirk widened and he pushed me back. With a jolt, I realized that there was a cold breeze coming in from behind me and figured out what he was planning.

He'd wanted me to do that the entire time; to struggle and push myself into perfect alignment with the end of the hall.

But just as I figured it out, Sasuke Uchiha, the guy that I loved with all of me, pushed me out of the window.

* * *

_- Okay so let me start off by saying sorry this took so long, but I've started the ninth grade, and I've got all these honors classes and all this homework -_- ugh lOl_

_But anyway ; just to let you know chapter twenty-eight will be up in a little while. I just wanted to get you guys started ;D lOl I promise it'll be up later huns lOl_

_Anyways; hope you enjoyed this - because I know I soooo liked writing it lOl (it's so dramatic xD)_

_Heehee_

_See you guys in a little I guess lOl ;_  
_- **xoxo Kiki** _

_lOl DING ; the cookies are done :D_


	28. Situation

**Chapter Twenty-Eight  
Situation**

_This is what I brought you  
This you can keep  
This is what I brought  
You may forget me_

_I promise to depart  
Just promise one thing  
Kiss my eyes  
And lay me to sleep – AFI; Miss Murder Intro (Video)_

-**Situation**-

She stopped, clutching at her side, breathing heavily and trying to regain a steady heartbeat.

She was so stupid! How could she forget her heart was already in poor condition? And she didn't mean just emotionally. Her heart was literally not doing so well. She could feel it slamming against her ribcage painfully.

She had to heave in air to equate the amount of a regular breath. She shook her head, feeling dizzy and weak. Her breathing was shallow and labored, and still she found it hard to get a good breath in. She still felt like she was suffocating. She let herself lean against the old brick of the building next to her, and clutched at her shirt over her heart.

The beats were raging and hard and they just _hurt_.

"Fuck!"

She dropped to the ground onto her bottom, her legs drawn up sideways. She continued to clutch at her shirt.

The sun had begun setting a few minutes ago. She was stupid to have run off alone knowing full well hundreds of people wanted her dead. But hey, she never went anywhere without a weapon. As a matter of fact, she still had a pouch full of them strapped to her thigh. The reason for that being she never got to finish her fight with Kankuro.

"All because Neji couldn't stop being a jealous bastard ass!"

She immediately regretted yelling out like that, and let out a small gasp as she grabbed at her heart.

Oh great; now her lungs burned too.

"Fuck my life," she said to herself.

Of course, she wasn't expecting anyone to hear her.

"That can _easily_ be arranged."

Her eyes shot open and she was instantly on her feet, completely forgetting that she still had trouble breathing. There was a sharp, wicked, male laugh from the shadows of the street in front of her. Her pupils dilated to their full nine millimeters, trying to see through the darkness to who could be there with her, threatening her.

The stranger stepped out of the shadows slowly, first feet, then legs, then torso, chest, neck, and then finally the face. He was a bit silhouetted against the setting sun, but she could make out his face just fine.

His steps over to her were slow as well, a cocky saunter that sent off one message;

_I got you now. You can't get away_.

She nipped her lip nervously.

The odds were stacked entirely against her. She was out of breath, her heart's condition wasn't too great, she could _feel_ it hammering against her chest. She was running out of energy; it was leaving her at an increasingly rapid rate. Her gun was in the house she'd just run away from, and there was no way she could make it there without being caught and killed.

And this guy.

Why this guy was the same one that had tried to rape her.

And now he had a gun.

And he was slowly bringing it to her head.

The cold barrel met her forehead and she took in yet another shaky, deep breath. She pressed herself back against the wall to put some distance between them. He didn't seem to mind the extra space himself and stepped back so he could still touch the gun to her forehead at arm's length. "Good idea; I wouldn't want the bullet to bounce back before I had time to duck and not get shot."

His smirk was cocky and triumphant and he was reveling in the fact that he had her trapped. He leaned in so that his face was just centimeters away from her, bending his arm and sliding the gun over to her temple.

She closed her eyes and swallowed the bile in the back of her throat down, taking in a breath.

Slowly, so subtly that he couldn't see what she was doing, she lowered her hand to her thigh, lifting the skirt in the slightest and reaching into the pouch strapped there. She tucked her finger into the hole of the top of the kunai, where it was lifted by, and brought it up slightly. Then she twisted it so that the point was facing behind her, toward the wall, and wrapped her hand around the grip. The feel of the bandages around the cold metal was an instant calm for her.

Her breathing came just a bit more regularly and her heartbeat calmed down.

That is, before the adrenaline hit her.

She could feel it. It broke through the glands and coursed through her veins like wild fire. She focused on the dark behind the boy before her, trying to keep her pupils dilated, as if she were still having trouble breathing, keeping her energy up.

He bought it, and slowly, he pulled back the safety on the gun. It gave a _click_ that seemed to echo around the entire block.

She widened her eyes in false horror. But the falseness of that horror slowly dissipated and turned into true terror. What she was about to do could very well be the end of her.

But it could also save her life.

That in mind, she kept her "scared" trembling up as he brought his face just a little closer than it already was to hers. His smirk widened as he whispered, "You're _mine_."

There was a double meaning in that, she could feel it, could sense it there.

He didn't just mean that he had her cornered.

He bent to bring his lips down to hers.

_That_ was when she made her move.

She ducked under his lips, feeling the adrenaline finally take over. Her legs were no longer sore, her heart didn't hurt, no matter how hard it was slamming against her chest. She hit her elbow against his gut. Then, with a movement faster than lightning, kicked him in the exact spot she'd just elbowed him in.

He let out a sharp cry in pain and fell back on his ass, the wind knocked out of him as she put her knife out in front of her, getting into her stance. He raised the gun and she chucked the kunai at it.

The point slid into the barrel, easily getting stuck there.

She smirked at him, despite the fact that even with all the adrenaline in her blood, she still felt pretty drained.

He looked at the gun, let out a fierce growl, and then tossed it aside uncaringly before he charged at her, pulling back a fist.

She simply gave him a slightly out-of-breath smirk as she pulled another kunai out of her pouch.

_Good,_ she thought. _I could use someone to take my frustration out on_.

-**Situation**-

**Sakura**  
When I hit the ground, it was back first, and it knocked the wind right out of me, sending gray dots dancing in front of my eyes. I struggled to get in a breath, flailing all around and rolling over onto my stomach. I shook my head as I finally gasped in some air, and rolled out of the way of Sasuke's feet as he jumped out the window.

A two story drop, and he landed on his feet as gracefully as a cat. I swear, he didn't seem fazed at all about the fact that he'd jumped about twenty-four feet down from the second floor of an abandoned house to the backyard.

I glared at him as I jumped back up onto my feet, getting into a stance that wasn't one necessarily for offense, but more for defense.

He _soooo_ was not going to get to me this time. And I was going to make sure of that.

His smirk was still going strong from the fact that he'd managed to push me out the house. I glared at him. "What the hell did you push me out the window for?" He shrugged nonchalantly. "I didn't want anyone interrupting our little talk. I don't know if you noticed, but your little boyfriend was in the house while we were up on the second floor.

My eyes widened and I shook my head. "What the hell? How did Kankuro get in?"

His eyes flashed dangerously, although I couldn't exactly see why. It wasn't like I'd said anything offensive to him. It was gone in an instant, and he said simply, "You kicked the door down, stupid." I ignored the _stupid_ remark and looked away sheepishly. "Oh…right."

I swear, thinking back on it, I could see just how similar that little intermission between our fight was to the old days. I'd miss something that was obvious and right in front of me, _given_ to me, and then Sasuke would point it out and make a snide remark.

But he used to laugh before. That was the difference.

Now he didn't bother smiling. All he did was smirk.

I glared at him as he took a few steps toward me. I wasn't going to step back. He could try to kiss me all he wanted. I'd turn my head and ignore him; but I wouldn't back away.

_You little liar,_ I thought to myself. _You know you're not going to turn your head; you're going to kiss him right back._

_Oh shut the hell up,_ I screamed at my mind as he inched toward me, sauntering in an uncaring grace that made me want to melt to my knees.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Oh, I see you're not backing up this time." I gave him a stern look. "Damn right I'm not." His smirk was questionable, seeing as he should've been disappointed that he wasn't getting to me. All he did was raise a hand and push me back. I stumbled back a few steps, my eyes widening in shock, as I gained my balance again and took a step back on my own.

Then I gave him a glare that would've killed him if looks could do such a thing. "What the _hell_ was that for?" He took a few more steps toward me, closing the short distance that he'd managed to create. He raised his eyebrow now. "I pushed you because I wanted to." I frowned. "But _why_?" He took yet another step toward me and I swear if I looked straight, my face would be in his chest.

Man, that was _tempting_. But I had to keep control and restrain myself, because if I didn't, I'm pretty sure I would kiss him right there.

He pushed me back again before I even had time to take a breath, and my back came into contact with something hard and rough. It messed up my breathing for a few seconds, but I easily gained control again and looked up at Sasuke.

He was right in my face, his nose almost touching mine. His hands were on each side of my head, forming a barricade. I couldn't see to either side, and I felt cut off from everything but him.

His smell, I had to admit, was pretty intoxicating. It was an oddly pleasant mixture of water and cologne. I bit my lip and bowed my head slightly. He brought his right hand over to cup my chin, taking control of how my neck and jaw moved, and made me look up at him. "Like I said, I wanted to. Now tell me Sakura, does this look familiar?"

Actually yes, this did seem quite familiar.

It reminded me of the day that he'd kissed me under the cherry tree, only then we had been sitting.

And back then, we had been close.

I bit my lip and shook my head, not trying to let him see that he was slowly getting to me again. "No; it's not familiar at all. Why? Do you remember something like this happening?" His smirk widened a fraction before he picked me up and pushed me up against the tree, holding me up by my thighs. I automatically leaned forward and wrapped my arms around his neck, letting out a small scream.

Although wrapping my arms around him wasn't the smartest thing to do, it felt like a good idea at the time so that I wouldn't fall. But now I could see my mistake.

My boobs were now right in his face, and my legs were wrapped around his waist. My lips were currently pressed to his head.

And I could _feel_ him smirking into my chest.

"Frisky, aren't we?"

I leaned back, glaring at him and crossing my arms over my chest, trying, and failing, to hide the deep blush that lit up my face. "Oh, fuck up Uchiha! That was _your_ fault! You know you can't scare me like that!"

At least I hoped he knew…

He gave an empty, humorless chuckle, and raised an eyebrow at me. I frowned slightly and turned my head away.

Warm lips touched the skin of my neck, leaving tingles wherever they touched. "That isn't going to help you, Sakura," he said between kisses. "As a matter of fact, that just makes this easier." He let me go, making sure my feet were on the ground, and also making sure to not stop trailing kisses along my neck and collarbones. He lifted his hand to my shirt and slipped down the shoulder, kissing the smooth skin there.

My breath hitched in my throat, and I swear I just shut down and froze. I know I should've done something, but I simply _couldn't_. He was just so damn toxic, and I just wanted him to stop, but at the same time, I wanted him to go on. I let out a breath that I didn't even know I'd been holding, and I swear I heard a whine in it. He chuckled again and trailed kisses up to along my jaw. I resisted the urge to entangle my fingers through his hair.

Temptation's a bitch, isn't it?

"Go ahead, Sakura. I know you want to," he whispered softly in my ear. I swear that voice sent chills down my spine. He wrapped his arms around my waist and tilted me back slightly, exposing more of my neck. He continued to trail kisses along there, down to between my collarbones, and then right back up to end just below my lips. And again, I say the words I swear; my lips quivered in excitement, and I hated to admit it to myself, but I _really_ wanted to kiss him.

"Go ahead," he repeated, and slipped the bra-strap that was showing down to my upper-arm, along with the sleeve of my shirt. I bit my lip so hard against the temptation that I drew blood.

But biting my lip wasn't enough.

He brought up his lips and let his tongue lap out once against the blood. That sent me reeling, and I swear I was so intoxicated by his lips so near mine that I lost my control.

I opened my mouth and kissed him at the same time he opened his mouth and kissed me. My hands automatically found themselves tangled up in his hair, and he tightened his hold on me, pulling me closer. His tongue touched mine, and that was all I felt before the world melted away.

xXOXx

Surrender

Relaxation

Absolute trust

Need

Love

Those were the five main components of the kiss they shared at the moment, and they were being given off from both sides, not just the pinkette that Sasuke currently held in his arms.

He could've stayed that way all night. Hell, he would've liked to stay that way for all of eternity.

But he broke their kiss, and started trailing lighter ones along her neck and shoulder again. She turned her head away from him, giving him more access to the porcelain of her throat. He kissed along her collarbone and under her chin. He brought his hand up to slip the other sleeve and bra strap off her shoulder, and she didn't do a thing to stop him.

_Better for me_, he thought to himself.

He'd gotten her twice; tricked the genius that this girl was, and in the end, gotten what he'd wanted.

He was kissing her, holding her, showing her his love in the only way he could; through his lips. He'd wanted this so bad; he'd _needed_ this. He knew she found him intoxicating, but really, from what he could see, it was the other way around. He was merely an addict to her drug, to her love, and kept demanding more of it. And she was compassionate enough to let him. She didn't mind. She loved it, as a matter of fact. He knew because he could feel her.

He could feel her pain and sorrow melting away, even if it was for just that one moment in time. He felt the remnants of her heartache evaporate up into the air around them, ready to crash down when reality imposed on them once again. Clearing up all of the pain she'd been feeling had given way to a shining, golden cave of love so bright it blinded him and healed the pain in his own heart.

Just earlier, he wouldn't have even thought of acknowledging her for the sake of losing his mindset and going back to her. Now, that was all he _wanted_ to think about.

He wanted to leave Orochimaru so badly it hurt; wanted to be with this pinkette who had a permanent hold on his heart, whether he wanted it or not. How he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, even though he was sure that with what he was doing, his life could be ended any day now.

Still, it didn't matter; he was going to tell her.

_Wait, NO! Get a hold of yourself, Sasuke!_ He practically yanked himself away from her, realizing at last that he was really short of breath.

He breathed heavily, as did the blushing pinkette before him. Whether she was blushing from his kisses or the lack of oxygen that it left both of them with, he didn't know. Still, she looked mesmerizingly beautiful to him. He shook his head, playing it all off with a slightly cocky smirk.

"Sakura, Sakura, Sakura; I'm ashamed. You gave up so _easily_." He let out a small laugh that chilled even him down to his bones. His arms were still wrapped firmly around her waist and it didn't seem as though she planned on removing her own arms from around his neck either. Their breaths mingled in the chilly night air around them, coming out as mist.

In response to his cocky statement, she lifted her leg and kicked him in the shin, crossing her arms over her chest and blushing a deeper shade of pink, although she was giving him one of the most hurtful and menacing death glares he had ever received in his life. He raised an eyebrow, ignoring the pain that radiated from his tibia down to his foot and then back up to his thigh. He simply tightened his hold around her, putting on a flirty smile. "Sakura, that hurt. It didn't just hurt my leg, it hurt my feelings."

Her glare intensified tenfold. "Oh screw you, Uchiha!"

"Are you offering?" He grinned cockily before continuing what he was saying before. "But no really, you hurt my feelings. So I'm not letting you go until you apologize." His pinkette's face turned into one of complete disbelief. "Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me! I don't want to be like this! You might as well kill me because I don't want to apologize to your bastard ass!"

There was a twinkle in her eye, one that sent him an obvious message.

"_I'd rather die in your arms than apologize for making you feel a fraction of the pain you made me feel."_

She closed her eyes, and he realized he'd been gazing into them. He could feel her reprimanding herself for letting that message show through.

_Why do things have to be like this,_ Sasuke asked himself, placing his cheek gently on Sakura's head. _Why do I have to suffer because of my past? Why can't I learn to get the fuck over it and forgive?_

_It's because I'm Sasuke Fucking Uchiha; I have no right to be happy. Maybe in a past life, _I_ was the murderer or thief or abusive bastard…There's got to be some explanation for why I can never have happiness in my life._ "Why is the universe so cruel," he murmured, forgetting for a moment that the pinkette in his arms could hear him.

Well it wasn't _his_ fault that she'd become as stiff as board when he'd laid his cheek on her head.

He could feel her grab his shirt tightly, forgetting herself that for that moment, they were to be enemies. "I don't know," she murmured back, resting her cheek against his chest. "All I know is that I'm tired of it…" Her answer caught him off guard; not because she answered his question with a confession but because of the way she said it.

There had been thick emotion in her voice as she had said it, and he could feel just how much her heart had been through in her life. It made him wince to himself and pull her tighter.

Without conscious thought, he let out the one thing on his mind;

"Sakura, I love you."

She went rigid in his arms again, letting go of his shirt but letting her hands rest upon his chest. "W-what?" Her voice shook slightly, in shock, disbelief, and sadness. "What'd you say?"

_Oh fuck I'm screwed_.

Well the cat was out of the bag; he might as well tell her everything.

"I _love _you. Look I know you've got this new dude and he seems like a dick to me, but maybe it's just because I'm jealous or whatever, even though he most definitely resembles a dick, and you love the guy and probably never loved me or anything similar to that like you said you did, but I still love you; I've always loved you. You're my _world_ Sakura. Everything I do is for you, regardless of how much it hurts, it pays off in the long run. You're the reason for everything I do; you're the reason I fight, you're the reason I'm _alive_. You're the reason that it hurts so much to be away from you and the gangs and the reason for the happiness I felt when I was with you guys.

"To me, you're like cotton candy at a carnival. You're like a gem that's simply priceless to me, and I could _never_ replace you, no matter how many times I try. You have a grip on my heart that no one else has ever had before and I'm begging you to forgive me Sakura; I love you too much to let you go and walk away from everything. I swear, regardless of whether you hate me, love me, like me, can't stand the sight of me, want me dead, I will _always_ love you. To me, you're my Cherry Blossom; you're the love _of my life_, and I swear I'll never let you go." He tightened his arms around her, as if to emphasize his point, noting briefly afterward the he was tearing and that his voice had broken throughout the _entire_ confession.

On a normal day, something like that would've bruised the Old Sasuke Uchiha's ego.

But today was no normal day.

And Sasuke was different now.

There was absolute silence; absolute stillness for what, to Sasuke, seemed like _centuries_, but was really just a few awkward minutes.

Finally, the pretty petite pinkette in his arms let out a small sigh that shook her shoulders. She laid her head on his chest as she sighed, and soon he could feel the wetness of her tears soaking through his shirt. He pulled her even tighter against himself as her muffled sobs escaped, shaking her shoulders.

As Sasuke Uchiha himself wept silently into her hair.

**Tenten**  
A grin crossed my features as I brought my knife around and sliced the four fingers that Zaku had aimed at my face just below the knuckles. He howled in pain and clutched his hand as the blood dripped down between his fingers and made dark red trails down his forearms.

He glared at me intensely and reached for a knife in his pocket. I let him, I didn't mind. It wasn't like he could beat me anyway.

I had perfect accuracy. He had one mean obsession with me and an equally annoying boner with that. Really, how much harm could he do with that (other than the obvious idea of rape; which he'd already tried and failed)?

But still…

I chewed my lip nervously. My heart was still weak, especially after all that sprinting I'd done down the last three to four miles from the house. I was still short of breath from all the sprinting and my heart was beating so fast that I barely had enough time to get my oxygen in. To top it all off, my energy reserves were at an all time low. I was sure that if it wasn't for the adrenaline that my enzymes were constantly releasing, I would've passed out right then and there and been the perfect target for Zaku to try and rape and kill.

Of course he was so disgusting he probably would've done the latter first, just so he could feel me up without any fear of me waking up.

The thought repulsed me completely, to the point where it was what would eventually keep me conscious for as long as it did.

He came at me again, attempting a slice down my face, which I blocked easily with my own kunai. I smirked at him from the proximity, knowing exactly what to do to throw his concentration. I winked, letting out a little laugh, before tripping him down. His back hit the asphalt hard, and I saw that it threw his breathing pattern off for a hot second.

I gave him a grin that was just as cocky as it was triumphant. I chucked the kunai at him and smirked when it scraped through all seven layers of the skin of his arm and went right down the good stuff (the white meat).

He let out a long, menacing and pained hiss and grabbed at his injured arm with his injured hand.

I swear, all that blood made me sick to my stomach. It wasn't just because it was blood though; it was because it was _Zaku's_ blood, therefore making it poisonous to any human who touched it. I mean seriously, he had to find somebody to try and rape while I was gone, so my guess was Ami and her girls had let him do it as a way of officially forming their alliance and they were all _deese-gust-TING!_ So I had a feeling that Zaku himself was a walking STD.

Fighting back a wave of nausea, I sauntered over to him, switching my hips purposefully just to toy with him a bit. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I do that?" He glared up at me from his kneeling position, probably looking more so up my skirt than up at me face.

Whatever; it didn't matter because in the next second I gave him a _very_ nice view as I lifted my leg and kicked him upside the chin. He fell back onto his back (heehee) and gasped for air through what I imagined must've been an incredibly terrible pain in his underside chin.

Good. I hoped he felt that.

"That was payback for trying to rape me, you bastard ass!"

He glared at me as I, in a movement quicker than the speed of light, pulled out a kunai and put the point to his head. It touched the skin of his forehead, making a small, hole-shaped cut appear and lead a trail of blood down between his eyes. His glare intensified at me, sending dark chills down my spine.

"Oh, are you mad? I'm sorry; I'm really such a lady."

I kicked him in the nose this time, not feeling an ounce of regret.

"But you deserve the pain, you fucking dumb bastard ass bitch!"

Okay so I called a boy a bitch; sue me it happens.

But I couldn't think of a good rhyme to insult him!

Gosh, people could be so pressuring these days.

What he did next, though, angered me before it terrified the shit outta me; like I _swear_ it made me stomach drop to my feet.

He pulled out a second gun and pointed it at my crotch.

And then he smirked at me.

"This was supposed to be mine right here," he said, speaking to me about my crotch as if discussing how he'd come in second place even though he should've come in first and the trophy should've been his.

Well in this case, he was the sore second-place loser, Neji was the winner, and my virginity was the trophy…even if Neji had never claimed his prize.

"_I_ should've owned _this_ a long time ago; but someone stepped in and took it away from me. Then when I tried to take it back, they shot me down. That's just not fair. I was just reclaiming what was rightfully mine."

Okay, by this point it had angered me again. "Oh _shut the fuck up_ with your damn bullshit! My virginity is not a prize to either you or Neji, so get the fuck over your damn pathetic ass, STD infested, dirty ass self! _My_ virginity is _mine_ and _mine_ only, and when I decide to give it up, it'll be to the one someone that I love, not someone that wants to rape me! And don't be mad because that someone might be Neji instead of you! You wanna fuck somebody, go fuck yourself and then die or something because frankly, I'm am fucking tired of - !"

I never got to finish that last sentence.

At that precise moment, while I had completely forgotten that I had a knife to this guy's forehead, Zaku had pulled back the trigger. I'd reacted at the last minute and made a slight evasion to the side, lifting my leg in a movement as quick as lightning.

The loud **BANG** resounded along the entire, abandoned block as I flew back from the force of the bullet, pain erupting someplace lower than my waist and radiating all over my lower half. The pain was so immense, and my body was so weak, that I didn't have the slightest idea _where_ the pain was originating from; meaning I had no idea _where_ I'd been shot.

_Oh please_, I thought to myself, _please don't let him have shot me where he was aiming for_. I was begging to the stars to help me. _I planned on actually having children. PLEASE!_ It sounded desperate, even to me.

I meant to let out a big scream, but my voice came out in a harsh, hoarse whisper as Zaku sauntered over to me, grinning. "Gotcha," he said cockily, clicking the safety back onto his gun. He then crouched down and did the most disgusting thing of my life.

He kissed me, and I swear I tasted the mirth and triumph that he felt at the moment. I tried to turn my head away, but it felt too heavy on my neck, and I was scared it would snap off. Speaking of my head, there was something warm and moist wetting my hair in the back, but I was too drowsy to think at the moment. All I wanted to do was close my eyes and go to sleep, to give into the darkness that was coming in around me from all sides.

The last thing I felt was Zaku picking me up and putting me into a dark, wide alley that wasn't even close to a single streetlamp. The last thing I saw was Zaku running out into the graying light under the moon, covered in blood, around the corner of the block and out of sight overall. The last thing I heard before he went out of earshot was a cry of, "You're _mine_," before I faded out and gave into the darkness.

xXOXx

Sasuke let his tears fall into the silk of the his pinkette's hair, occasionally kissing her on the head and repeating over and over how much he loved her, how she was his world, how she was his reason for life. She simply continued to sob into his shirt. She had cried so many tears that he was sure it would take a while before his shirt dried fully. He didn't care. He just stood there whispering sweet nothings into her hair as she wept, comforting her, mending her heart, as well as mending his own.

After what seemed like an eternity, she allowed herself to stop crying, her sobs turning into wet little hiccups. She pulled away from him, wiping at her eyes before resting her hands on his arms. She looked up at him, eyes red-rimmed but not puffy. Her nose was a shade darker than her hair. She probably thought she looked a mess, but he found her just as gorgeous as ever. He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her forehead; that forehead that she hated so much.

"A kiss to mark my signature on that billboard brow," he said simply, and she laughed softly at that, color coming up into her cheeks.

How he'd missed that laugh.

She opened those gorgeous eyes of hers wide, and he could see bits and pieces of the old sparkle and shine that those gems of hers used to possess. But still, just those bits and pieces made his heart soar to great lengths.

He'd made her truly smile after what had felt like an eternity to him. That old sparkle had begun to come back, and even though it wasn't much, it completely made his night.

He could see that she believed him, that she'd known, somewhere in those deep depths of her mind, that he had loved her the entire time. But that didn't stop the face from coming.

Her smile fell, and it seemed as though she was slowly thinking. Sasuke noticed that face. He'd seen it before. She was beginning to figure something out. And once something started Sakura off, nothing would be able to stop her until she figured it out.

Well if she figured out his plan, what would be so bad about it? She already knew that he loved her unconditionally; how could it get worse than that?

_She'll get hurt; she'll be in danger_, his conscious whispered to him. That made him want to chew his lip in thought, but he was Sasuke Uchiha, and he never chewed his lip. So he said simply, "What?" Of course he would question her, get whatever was bugging her out of it, throw her focus off of the subject so that she wouldn't get suspicious.

"Well…" Her emerald orbs looked to the side as she used those perfect white teeth of hers to bite her plump, bright-pink lips. "Hey, save me the lip-biting," Sasuke said playfully, smirking at her as she turned her eyes on him, showing him a playful "shut up" with her emeralds. He placed his hand on her cheek. "No, really, Sakura, what's wrong?" She let out a small sigh, sadness filling those gorgeous green eyes of hers.

"It's just that…if you've loved me this whole time, why didn't you just tell me? That way I wouldn't have had to be such a little bitch and mope about it all damn day like a hungry baby! A single, "I love you," would've been nice! Why did you suddenly come to confess now?" Her expression turned guarded. "You're not trying to trick me are you? Because I _swear_, Sasuke, if you trick me again I am going to kick your ass!" He heaved a sigh.

Right, he should've thought about her getting suspicious after such an abrupt confession.

"And _I_ swear that I'm not trying to trick you Sakura. I really _do_ love you." He leaned down and kissed her forehead again. She let out a small breath, a breath that brought with it a gorgeous smile. She turned those blazing eyes of green on him and kissed him lightly on the lips. "It's nice to actually hear you say it. But still…" She frowned again, pursing those cute, plump lips of hers.

If he would just lean down, his lips would be against hers again and he would drown out her words, make her forget all about her pain and questions.

But still, he was Sasuke Fucking Uchiha. And the girl in his arms was Sakura Genius Haruno. She would still find some time to think about the situation at hand at the moment, and that wasn't good for Sasuke.

"Are you having doubts about your sexual preference Sakura?"

Well, when in a bad situation, crack a joke to ease inner tension; right?

She slapped him lightly on the arm. "No; I like boys, no questioning that. What I am questioning, Sasuke is your liability. Why the sudden confession? I really want to know!" Behind her curiosity, Sasuke could sense a small bead of desperation. She wanted to believe that he loved her, she did believe it, and she was hoping that there was no reason to feel guilty for loving him back.

He smiled at her, something he rarely did, and said, "Because I've gone through hell and back in the last week, and it was all because you were acting like you hated me." Sakura frowned. He could see the happiness in her eyes, but he could also see the probing nature of her curiosity still lingering. "But then, if you felt so bad why didn't you just come back?"

He frowned himself and turned his head away. "I can't…" It was a mutter, a very soft one at that, but she still caught it.

"Why not," she asked, placing her hand on his cheek and turning his head to look at her again. He fought the urge to heave a sigh and averted his gaze downward. "Because if I come back, you'll be in danger." That seemed to irk her, because her eyebrow twitched into her frown. "And how would I be in danger? Have you seen me fight?" He gave her another one of his rare smiles and removed her hand from his cheek, putting his own on the porcelain skin of hers and stroking it with his thumb softly. "I've seen you fight," he said. "You can kick ass when you want to. What I'm saying though is that, even with how you and the girls fight, this could kill you. The kind of danger you would be in would be really, really bad."

She pursed her lips into her frown, and Sasuke could sense the rebuttal that she was forming in her mind. He smirked and kissed her on the forehead again.

How he loved doing that.

"Listen, I won't tell you what exactly is going on, even though you look like you have an idea of what it is. But I'm going to let you figure it out if you can." She let out an aggravated sigh. "You love me, but you still won't tell me anything." She dropped her gaze. He laid his cheek against the top of her head. 'Well that's because before I was scared to tell you a thing because I was scared of what you would think."

"Is there much of a difference now," she grumbled into the crook of his neck. He didn't move, but he did reply. "There is," he said. "Now I'm scared to tell you because I'm terrified of the consequences." She pushed herself away from him, not trying to get away, but to meet his gaze. "What consequences?" He frowned.

"I'm terrified of what might happen to you."

xXOXx

He was stupid.

He was so _stupid_.

How he hated his stupidity and how stupid it could lead him to be sometimes.

He took a sharp turn around the corner, head turning left and right for any sight of his, now possibly ex-girlfriend. And he hated the fact that he saw nothing. He didn't see a single strand of wavy, brown hair, or a pair of chocolate panda buns or cute, accented eyes. There wasn't a single trace of tan skin or even a trail of kunai embedded into walls.

"Oh great; the one time we actually worry about her, she's left absolutely no trace," he muttered grumpily to himself. How he wanted to find her and apologize, and just hold her and tell her that it'd be okay. His arms ached just at the thought.

_What if something bad happened to her?_

He wouldn't be able to live with himself. It was just the thought of her in trouble, or in pain, and it sent shivers down his spine. _Her heart was bad enough as it is, and she ran out off the block like an Olympic track star._

He fought the urge to bite his lip as he stopped for a moment to catch his breath.

_Fuck all living things and their need for oxygen._

His breathing was labored as he leaned up against the side of a crumbling, old brick building and threw his head back, eyes closed tightly as he struggled to keep a steady heartbeat and control his oxygen levels. A frustrated growl escaped him without his conscious control, and he brought his hand up to punch the brick with the side of his fist. "Fuck my life," he said.

He shook his head, slowly gaining control over his lungs once again. His breathing slowed greatly, back to its normal, steady rhythm, and he could feel his heart beating at its original pace again. He opened his eyes, ignoring the sweat that had beaded on his forehead, and let his arm drop down to his side again. He scratched himself with the brick, little light scrapes that brought blood nonetheless. But he honestly didn't care. He just wanted to find her.

"Where the hell is she," he asked himself in a frustrated tone.

As if a sign, a loud, resounding cough broke through the silence of the dark, slightly chilly morning. He frowned to himself, slipped his gun out of its holster, and strained his ears. The cough hadn't sounded too far, but it had been faint. He took a few, careful and quiet steps toward the corner at the other end. Another cough resounded, although this time, it seemed a little louder. "It's this way," he said to himself softly, pulling back the safety on his gun. It _click_ed in what had to be to him the loudest sound he could've heard in the past fifteen minutes.

Being careful to not make a sound, he edged his way around the corner, keeping his back pressed against the cold brick of another building, gun drawn and facing up just inches away from his face. His breath misted out in front of him from the chill, but it didn't faze him for a second.

The next cough made him tense slightly. It sounded wet and gurgled, but that much louder.

_I must be close_.

"But it sounds like the person's throwing up." He frowned and took a few more steps along the side of the building. He stopped short, however, when the side he'd been inching along finished. Annoyance flooded through him at the empty air on his back.

Not once did it occur to him that there might've been an alley behind him. He was currently focusing on the sole streetlamp on the street. It flickered and teased, lighting only a small diameter of the street. There were at least five other streetlamps, but even from his distance away from all of them, he could tell that they had been shattered.

It didn't matter; he had strong eyes. He could see in the moonlight alone.

_Although the extra light would've been nice_.

The next cough very nearly made him jump. It did make him turn and point his gun into the alleyway. It had come from right behind him.

This one was really loud, and really wet and gurgled, just like the one before had been. For the first time, Neji could hear a sort of ragged, choked breathing. He glared into the darkness before him, feeling mocked by the fact that he couldn't see a damn thing now. The moonlight didn't reach far into the alley, although it did light it up just the slightest. The moon was still pretty high in the sky, even though it was to start making its slow, long descent down, pulling the sun back up.

It was half past three in the morning, and that damn breathing was aggravating him.

"Whoever it is, I might as well put them out of their misery," he said to himself, taking cautious, sauntering steps forward. It didn't matter that he was trying to be quiet, his steps still echoed loudly against the brick of the two buildings that made the alleyway. He cursed the laws of physics and the sound vibrations in the alley as he made his way to whoever was there with him.

Fingering his trigger lightly, he extended his arm to point at a figure strewn on the floor on its back, its chest heaving heavily.

His eyes slowly adjusted to the dark surroundings. As soon as he caught good sight of what was before him, he felt his blood run ice-cold.

The blood on this person ran silver under the little moonlight that broke into the alley, pouring from lips that were now a dead red due to the amount of blood that had obviously left its original place in the being's veins. The skin was chalky, so pale it was almost translucent, although it was just as fair as it had been in its original color.

The dark lashes of the person on the street seemed like little black lines drawn on a blank piece of printer paper against the person's cheeks. The body was curved, slightly in the shirt, inward at the waist, then out wide again into full hips, which held up the slate school uniform skirt, defining the person as female. There was blood soaking the skirt from what Neji could see in the little moonlight, and it dripped down in dry streaks along the leg that was thick with the natural curves of the body. On the feet was a pair of black converse.

_Oh, please, don't let this be…_

But he didn't need to finish his sentence. Once he took a few more steps, he could make out the face of the person much more clearly than just being able to see the eyelashes on the sallow skin. The sight of it made him drop down to his knees and drop his gun. It made him crawl over to the girl, automatically making him feel weak with how overwhelming it was.

As soon as he reached her, he extended his hand and cupped her cheek.

It was just as cold as his blood had been at the sight of her.

He brought his thumb up and lifted back the top eyelid, opening her eye. It wasn't flat, which made his breath hitch in his throat. The pupil was dilated, but there was no mistaking that it was a deep, kind chocolate brown out along the iris.

Brown, not gray.

She was still alive.

But with her condition, she could've gone at any moment.

He glanced upward, and brushed the equally brown bangs out of those accented eyes of hers.

He was still praying to the stars that it wasn't her, but he didn't need to look up at the girl's hair to confirm his thoughts.

He saw the twin, panda buns on the top of her head, and immediately his world was thrown into anguish.

* * *

_Mua ha ha ha ha ha  
I threw in a cliffhanger ;D (lOl evil face)_

_- Okay so I know I promised to put this up yesterday and I'm like SMH at myself lOl but it's up now ^_^ and I hoped you liked it lOl_

_And now, you'll have to wait a week in order to be able to read what happens next; cus I'm just that evil - Mua hahaha lOl xD_

_Anyway, I know this is probably a bad thing to put up about Tenten on 1O/1O/2O1O (heehee) but since I forgot to put it up yesterday, I figured I'd just put it up today :D lOl._

_So yeaa... lOl that's about it for my mini rant._

_- **xoxo ; Kiki** _

_P.S (Again): Just a warning; the next chapter will have you going "HOLY SHIT" through most of it lOl._

_Just thought I should let you know ;D_


	29. Explosion

**Chapter Twenty-Nine  
****Explosion**

_Okay you got it  
__It's in the can  
__Before I played it  
__You knew my hand_

_You could turn a free throw  
__Into a goal  
__Boy you got the peephole  
__To my soul – Nicki Minaj; Right Through Me_

-**Explosion**-

_Sometimes, I just don't get the mentality of that girl_.

Kankuro took small, quiet steps up to the porch of the abandoned house by the forest, laughing slightly to himself at the kicked-in door.

That was mistake number two.

Mistake number one was that she didn't exactly make sure that he had gone inside. He had been outside the entire time, quiet as a mouse in the shadows of the house where his brother, sister, and all of his sister's gang members and friends were in. He'd watched as the pinkette had trailed into the house, rage floating around her in an aura spiked by love.

Because it was obvious that Sakura loved that guy; that dude, Sasuke.

He smirked to himself as he entered the house, taking quiet and careful steps. He made his way around the first floor, checking the guest bedroom, the half bathroom, the kitchen, the living room and the corners of the dark hallway. Sakura was still down there with him, checking and rechecking everywhere he was checking to make sure that no one was on the bottom floor. He was slick, and quiet, and really good at hiding, so whenever she came toward him, he slid into a dark corner, where even her keen senses wouldn't pick up a trace.

Finally, she made her way up to the second floor, the stairs creaking with every step she took, which made her whisper out swear words to herself. He had a damn hard time fighting back snickers at that. Sakura was psychotic when she got angry, which in most cases, was an entirely humorous and good thing. Unless of course, she was angry at you; that just meant that you were screwed.

He didn't bother waiting for her to finish her ascent to the second floor. He went around one more time, double checking everywhere she had double-checked and beyond. Once he was absolutely positive that there was no one on the bottom floor with him, he made his way over to the steps, just as Sakura made her way to the top.

Before he could even step onto the first stair, he heard a sound that seemed to tear at the wall of silence that had swallowed the house whole. It was so quiet it was nearly dead silent. But he had heard it.

And apparently, so had Sakura.

The sound had been like the ruffle of the sheets on a bed, like a knife being drawn from a billowy sleeve, or a pair of uniform pants.

_He's on the second floor._

There was the sound of something metal being drawn. _A kunai,_ he thought to himself as he heard a few loud steps, and then a foot dragging across the floor.

He could imagine the fight if he closed his eyes (although he didn't shut them for a second); Sakura trying to cut him in some way, and judging by the dragging sound, Sasuke taking a step and easily sliding to the side and avoiding the slice. A loud _clang_ made his eyes narrow, however, and he caught the glint of moonlight hitting something metallic. _Her kunai,_ he thought to himself as it bounced up and down. That was mistake number three. He caught it in his hand, figuring that it had bounced enough times to trick her into thinking that it had fallen all the way down.

Then he bent down and touched the first wooden step carefully, feeling for the spot where it would creak least. He didn't close his eyes to concentrate; he'd learned long ago that closing your eyes in unknown territory could be life or death when you were in a gang. Besides, he could concentrate just as well with his eyes open and still be alert and aware of his surroundings. He pressed down carefully on the center of the step, and stopped almost immediately when he heard a small creak. He thanked the stars that Sakura and Sasuke were fighting wildly enough that they didn't hear it. He probed gently, eyes trailing where his fingers touched the old wood of the stair. He pressed down and dragged his finger to the side of the staircase, toward the wall, and smirked to himself when it didn't creak. "Found ya," he said to himself.

_Now all I have to do is keep to the right._

And that he did, but not before he looked to the top of the staircase to ensure that Sakura and Sasuke wouldn't take note of him until _after_ he knocked Sasuke out. Then, he began his near dead silent ascent up to the second floor of the old, abandoned house they were in. The stairs didn't creak once as he made his way up, leaning sideways with his arm extended out to the railing, hand gripping it tightly to ensure his balance. His climb to the second floor was quiet, but painstakingly slow, and therefore very aggravating to Kankuro. He fought the urge to grit his teeth, telling himself that with how quiet the house had suddenly become, it would sound like a parade of people stomping on the ground.

When he finally _did_ reach the top, he let out a small, whispered curse in disbelief.

Sasuke and Sakura weren't there.

He frowned and pulled out a gun from his waist holster. He pulled back the safety in what had to be the loudest way possible, unintentionally of course. He trailed down the hallway slowly, looking left and right, before he began to check the rooms.

He stepped into the first bedroom, expecting at least Sakura to step out and snuff him and then laugh and apologize when she realized it was him. But that didn't happen. Instead, he looked under the bed, in the closet, and behind the door. There wasn't a sign of anyone at all. He stepped out, brow furrowed into a deep scowl, before he entered the second room.

Five times he repeated the procedure of checking under the beds, checking the wardrobes and closets and behind the doors, and five times, there wasn't a single person in sight. By the time Kankuro finished checking the bathrooms, he was so puzzled it was a miracle he was still in one piece.

_Where are they,_ he wondered to himself. _Did they sense me coming and go to fight someplace else? No. Impossible. I was dead silent; I could've been a ghost._ He looked around the dark hallway, feeling a chill creep upward along his spinal cord. "Well with this house, it seems likely that there would be a ghost in here," he thought to himself silently. He shuddered, and almost let out a scream when a loud shriek came from the backyard.

"I've told you already, I can take care of myself!"

_Sakura!_

In a movement that beat sound, he darted over to the huge window at the end of the hall and looked out into the backyard.

What he saw shocked him.

Sakura was in Sasuke's arms with her arms crossed over her chest and a deep-set frown planted on her brow. Sasuke's arms seemed to be tight around her, and it seemed as though Sakura had no intention of moving. However, she did seem mildly angry with him. There was intent in her eyes. Kankuro could've sworn he saw a sort of fierce thirst to prove herself in her eyes. He noticed it easily.

He'd worn the look just barely three years ago, to this day, fighting for Tenten in a way that proved he would protect her, but didn't outright show his feelings for her.

Or at least, that's what he had thought.

_I should probably try a different tactic next time,_ he noted mentally.

He shifted his full attention back on what was happening now. He saw a wild apology in Sasuke's eyes, and yet there was an over-protectiveness that was so strong it chilled him.

_He loves her back_, he couldn't help but think in disbelief to himself. _He actually loves her back_.

He'd know the feeling when he saw it.

_What the hell is it with this town that makes people fall in love?_

He narrowed his eyes in slight suspicion. Something about the picture before him didn't seem right.

_What could it be?_

It hit him harder than one of Sakura's punches.

Something was clouding over the protectiveness and love Sasuke felt for Sakura, and it showed only in his eyes. Kankuro could see it from here. He narrowed his eyes in concentration, focusing hard on Sasuke, studying the dizzying emotions in his eyes.

Yes, there was something there, thick as puffy clouds and dark as midnight.

_But what could it be_, Kankuro repeated mentally to himself.

He recognized it, but couldn't remember it. It was right on the edge of his mind, itching to be pushed back into the center. But he couldn't reach it to put it back in place. He narrowed his eyes more as Sasuke pulled Sakura back to him, whispering something in her ear on the side that was hidden from Kankuro. He couldn't hear it, but with the way it made Sakura tense, he had a feeling it was something threatening or sexual…or both.

_Did he just threaten to rape her? Because I hope he knows it's not rape if she likes it_.

Finally, Kankuro caught what had gone wrong in this little bubble that the two had created. Sasuke had tensed way before Sakura had.

This time he didn't hear it, he _saw_ it. It glinted under the moonlight briefly, and sent Kankuro's heart to his feet. "Sakura, watch out!" He screamed out of instinct, throwing a pocket knife at Sasuke so fast it was almost certainly going to rip through the air.

Well it certainly did, because that was all it came into contact with.

He felt bewildered for a second. He could've sworn that Sasuke had been holding Sakura directly in front of him. Now, he saw no one.

They just, _poof_, up and disappeared the instant the knife was supposed to have slashed him.

A voice behind him made him whip out another knife and slash at the air behind him.

"_Looking for me?_"

-**Explosion**-

His heart ached at the sight before him. _It's all my fault_, he thought to himself. _If I hadn't been such a fucking bastard…_ He shut his eyes, not wanting to finish the thought. He shook his head, opening his eyes again to look at the sallow face of his girlfriend. Her skin was as pale as paper and her eyes becoming more soulless by the minute. The spark that they'd usually held was fading fast, and her pupil was so dilated it took up almost her entire eye. Her bangs were scurried and frayed across her forehead, matted and frizzy from what must've been a tough fight. _Or a long run_, he thought to himself as he gently pushed the short hairs away from her eyes. Her skin was near ice-cold to the touch, and it stabbed fear through his heart. Her twin buns were slowly falling from their tight ribbons, little wisps of brown, wavy hair tumbling from them down to her shoulders. _Her hair grew_, he thought to himself almost absently.

Unconsciously, his gaze trailed downward, to the large blood stain that was right over the center of her skirt and spread out to the sides. His eyes widened, and what he did next could've, if she had been awake and well, been the death of him.

He lifted her skirt and inspected her inner thighs and crotch with those gifted eyes of his. He narrowed them slightly, analyzing the blood all along the inside of her legs. _I don't think this was any normal period_, he thought to himself.

Carefully, he brought her skirt back down and slid one of his arms under her knee. He slid the other one behind the back of her neck and slowly stood. Under the better lighting at the higher elevation, he could see her long, dark eyelashes resting against her cheeks. Her chest heaved with each labored breath she took. He would've bit his lip, but he was Neji Hyuga, and the only lip he ever bit was Tenten's.

And she was currently dying in his arms.

_Not if I can get her to Sakura in time_, he thought to himself, looking out in the direction he'd come. It was dark and unpromising, abandoned, and looked, even though he'd never admit to himself, scary. _And it's a three mile run…that's like half an hour of running_. Looking down at her, it seemed as though she had only minutes left. He shook his head. _No, dammit, she'll live if you get to hauling ass back home_.

He frowned to himself and began to sprint down the street, on the trail back to his home, being sure to keep a good yet gentle grip on the girl in his arms. If he let her fall, she would surely die, and he would probably kill himself just for letting it happen. _And for causing it_, he thought to himself. All he could see was darkness; the kind that consumed and ate at you, shoving fear into your mind and putting you in the most disturbed state of consciousness. He was so far disturbed by his girlfriend's health that it didn't matter at the moment that the darkness was pressing in on both of them, bringing forth the threat of murder and an unpromising trail home.

He continued to sprint, one thought racing through his mind at the same speed his feet pounded against the pavement. _Don't die on me, Tenten_.

xXOXx

He sensed it before he saw it; sensed that they were being watched.

There was silence for a moment after what he'd said; the pinkette in his arms was still and quiet. His scowl deepened, and he smoothed some of her hair back from her face. "What's wrong?" She crossed her arms over her chest. "It's just that you act as if I can't take care of myself." Sasuke shook his head. "I never said that; I _know_ you can take care of yourself. But Orochimaru's powers are incredible; in a bad kind of way. You don't know _what_ he would do to you if he grabbed a hold of you." She let out a sigh with a deep-set scowl, showing that her bad temper was going to take hold of her. "He's going to kill me, simple as that."

He shook his head again. "No, not as simple as that. Do you know what he's going to do to you _before_ then?" She raised an eyebrow. "Kidnap me? Tie me down to a chair or bed or something and set me on fire or something?" He paused for a second, thoughts filled with darkness running through his mind. He snapped out of it, shook his head again, and said, "No; but that's not too far off. Sakura, he would torture you into _insanity_, and get you to spill anything and everything you know about Kunai and Akuri Kaze. Then he'll kill them in front of you and _then_ tie you to a bed or chair and set you on fire." She didn't lower that thin, challenging, pink eyebrow. "And who said I would let him get that far? Sasuke, have you not seen how complex my mind is? I can easily find a way out."

"And if he has guards watching you at all hours," he retorted. She let out a laugh that chilled him to the bone. "I don't need my hands and legs to free myself. I've got a special…connection with the girls." He raised an eyebrow, backing away a little but not letting go. Then he let out a rather loud sigh. "But I'd rather _not_ have it get that far. If I can help it, I would like to keep you as safe as possible, and the way to do that is by not telling you. I'm sorry; I can't risk putting you in danger. You mean way too much to me."

A small smile graced those rosy lips of hers, and she leaned up and kissed him lightly on the lips before saying, "As sweet as that is, I still think you should tell me, Sasuke. I promise, I can take care of myself if and when I need to." He still wasn't convinced. He shook his head for the fourth time and she let out a loud huff. "Why do you insist on being so overprotective?" She pouted cutely and squeezed her arm. _Releasing her anger,_ he thought to himself subconsciously. "I've told you time and time again, I can defend myself!" He frowned back at her. "And I've told you time and time again, I would rather have you not having to look over your shoulder every two seconds to ensure your safety!"

"I've told you already I can take care of myself!"

Then he sensed it; like a slithering snake in the dark, ready to inject venom. Someone was watching them, intruding on a conversation that was entirely confidential.

He threw Sakura a wild apology with his eyes, looking into hers and seeing a loud, dizzying thirst to prove herself; to prove that she could handle and defend herself. He tried not to tense, to let his thorns be bristled, but he couldn't help but get defensive. It was his natural reaction to any kind of threat, large or small. His posture stiffened immediately and he hoped to the stars that whoever was watching them was too much of an idiot to notice what had just happened. He slowly pulled Sakura forward, aligning his mouth with the side of her face so that whoever was watching couldn't see from the window. Sakura didn't pull away, and it wasn't like he was going to let her anyway. His grip on her was strict and tight. "Don't say another word," he whispered in her ear. "Someone's watching; if they hear us, then we'll _both_ be in some deep shit."

She tensed almost immediately, but didn't grab onto him. She kept her arms crossed, but from the corner of his eye, he could sense her biting her lip lightly on the side that was hidden from the window. In a movement that was so quick, it defied the speed of sound, Sasuke slipped a knife out into his hand. That didn't stop it from glinting brightly in the moonlight.

"_Sakura, watch out!"_

The air whistled as a metallic point sped toward Sasuke. He grabbed onto Sakura tightly and just barely managed to dodge the knife, turning to the other side of the tree. He let go as soon as he reached the flipside and in slick, quick steps that defied the laws of nature, he was standing behind Kankuro, internally laughing at the confused and awestruck face that he wore as he searched for him. _"Looking for me_," he asked from behind him, smirking and doing his little disappearing act again as Kankuro turned, knife in his hand, to attempt to swipe him another time.

"_You better be quick_," he said, smirking as Kankuro turned back around again to swipe him with his knife, only to miss as he sped out of sight again. "_You can't catch me,_" he taunted, smirk broadening as he easily dodged yet _another_ swipe.

"You know what, fuck knives!" Kankuro hurled his knife out the window, forgetting entirely (and obviously) that Sakura was still in the backyard. He whipped out his revolver, pulling back the safety before he pulled it out all the way. The _click_ resounded along the shabby walls of the house. He pointed the gun directly at Sasuke.

Sasuke felt no nervousness or concern whatsoever as Kankuro aimed the gun straight for his forehead. He lifted an eyebrow in challenge and smirked cockily. "Oh, a gun, huh?" He took a step toward Kankuro, who automatically took a step back. He could tell that Kankuro wasn't scared of him, just disgusted at the fact that Sasuke was on the other team. He could practically see what was running through his mind, could practically see what he was thinking and sense his emotions. There was a bitterness directed at him that he couldn't quite place, and a fierce over-protectiveness for Sakura that rivaled his own. Sasuke took another step forward. Kankuro took another step back.

"Did you know that a gun releases energy that shoots the bullet forward at more than two hundred miles an hour?" Kankuro narrowed his eyes, gun held steady forward. "Bet you didn't," Sasuke said, smirking still as he took yet another step forward. _He hasn't caught on yet_, he thought to himself as he continued to step forward, edging Kankuro closer and closer to the huge open window behind him. He silently sent a thank you to the stars that there was no draft coming in. "Bet you also didn't know," he went on, to distract him, "that guns are pretty useless against me. I'm faster than them, see. Humans have the ability to respond immediately to a threat, if they're trained up just a bit." He continued stepping forward. Kankuro was on the edge, and he finally took note of it. His eyes widened and stared straight into Sasuke's cold, onyx ones.

The raven-haired boy just smirked and leaned forward. "Bet you didn't know that." Kankuro leaned back automatically, wanting his personal space, lost his balance, fell out of the window, gun slipping out of his hand and flying out to his left. He fell unconscious as soon as he hit the ground. Sasuke's smirk lasted a few more seconds as he jumped down, rolled so he wouldn't have to land on his feet and hurt his legs, and then got to his feet, standing up straight to face Sakura.

She had picked up the knife that Kankuro had tossed out the window and was clutching it tightly in her hand. She smiled up at him and whispered softly, "Thanks for not hurting him…too much." Sasuke let out a breath of air and looked sideways. "Why would I hurt your boyfriend? Granted, I wanted to, but then you would hate me." He watched her as she blinked once, twice, three times. And then; "Wait, did you just call Kankuro my _boyfriend_?" Sasuke frowned. "Yeah, isn't that what he is?"

Shock coursed through his body as she fell into soft chimes of laughter, wrapping her arms around his waist. He looked down at the top of her bubble-gum pink head and wrapped his arms around her neck. "What's so funny?" She looked back up at him, smiling through her eyes as well as her lips. "Kankuro isn't my boyfriend!" His scowl deepened as his confusion did. "Wait, what? But I saw you guys kissing each other on the cheek like twenty minutes ago!" Sakura shook her head, pink hair swishing around her face cutely. "No! Kankuro's like my big brother!" She giggled adorably and put her face in his chest. He could feel the vibrations of her giggles rumbling against his ribcage, echoing into his heart and imprinting there a sound so beautiful that it lit him up from the inside.

She was still single?

_Not for long_…

"So, if he isn't your boyfriend, can I keep the claim?" She stopped laughing at that and looked up at him. There was pure confusion in those beautiful green orbs of hers. "Wait, you want to be my boyfriend?" He frowned again and nodded. "Is there a problem with that?" She blinked and shook her head slowly, lips pursed. He thought she resembled a doe with the way her eyes were all bugged out in innocence. "So then why do you sound so…questioning?" She glared playfully. "The only person asking all the questions is you, Sasuke." She giggled lightly and laid her head against his chest, smiling softly to herself. His brow was still furrowed into the frown. He was confused; had she accepted his proposal or had she not answered at all?

"Wait, so was that a yes?" She looked up at him, eyes shining brightly in the light of the silvery moon. She slowly got on her toes and brought her lips to his. Before his mind could think of a logical conclusion for that, he leaned down and kissed her back.

That reaction that had begun way back when they'd first met, first started flirting, was still there. It was instinct to hold her tightly in his arms and kiss her back with all he had. It had become ingrained in him for whatever reason, not that he minded. Considering the fact that her reaction was to latch onto him and kiss him back just as passionately made it all the more enjoyable. He loved the feel of her soft rosette lips against his own as he kissed her, held her tightly.

She pulled away slowly, giving a smile that brightened up the porcelain of her face. Her eyes shined brightly at him as she raised an eyebrow and said, "What do you think?" He smirked, placed his hands on her porcelain cheeks and brought her face up to his slowly, placing his lips on top of hers softly and letting their emotions get the better of them for the moment. She placed her hands on his arms and brought herself closer to him as she kissed him. He loved the way she felt in his arms. She fit perfectly in with his muscles, as if his arms were molded specifically for her form. No, scratch that; specifically _just_ for her.

He remembered reading somewhere back in the seventh or eighth grade a book written by a not-so-famed, as a matter of fact, quite unknown, author. The book had been about a man in search of his wife, whom had been captured by his so-called best friend who had ended up falling head over heels for her himself. He didn't exactly like the book but a specific quote had caught his eye. It went:

"_According to Greek mythology, humans were originally born with four arms, four legs, and a head with two faces. Fearing their power, Zeus split them apart, condemning them to spend their life searching for their other half."_

He recognized the quote later on when they went over Greece and their mythology in both world history and language arts, and discovered that it was taken from an actual fictional story once told by Plato. Hearing it more than once didn't help him decipher it, so he tossed into one of the theoretical bins in the back of his mind, tossing out the idea of ever figuring it out. The entire quote and concept of a soul-mate was perplexing to him. Or at least it had been.

Now he could easily see how the story made sense. At the time that he had first read the quote, he remembered thinking that the entire idea of a person having another half was stupid and that people were better off on their own, because relationships could cause attachments, attachments could cause the desire to protect that person, and the desire to protect that person could cause incredible pain and suffering if anything ever happened to that person. Now he saw the flip side of the story. The way he deciphered the quote now went like this: the entire idea of a person having another half was stupid because one without the other is nothing; if they were nothing, they were not capable of love, and if they were not capable of love then they were not capable of experiencing happiness and joy to the extremity of eternity. Yet in a sense he completely agreed with Plato for this reason and only this reason: he knew he would feel a lingering emptiness if he didn't have his pinkette there to love him back just as much as he loved her. In a way, all of his thoughts and conclusions were related.

A part of him died then, making way for a beautiful new part that he didn't know could exist within him. The bitter, old, rude Sasuke died, taking with him the idea that loneliness was the best path for him and would lead him far without the distractions. The new, reformed, changed Sasuke brought with him the idea that maybe having people tag along with him on his path in life wasn't so bad after all; that it actually made him stronger than if he would've gone down the road by himself.

He smiled into their kiss then, actually smiled a true smile filled with happiness and love for what had to be the first time in years. He savored the sweet taste of her lips against his, cherished the moment that they shared hanging onto each other the way they were, relished in the feel of her body pressed tightly against his. And throughout it all he could feel her smiling right back at him as she kissed him, a smile that burned with the intensity of her love and happiness for him. She knew too that he'd discovered something. She didn't know what it was, but he could tell by the way that she was smiling while they kissed that she knew it was important, ground-breaking for him even.

That kiss could've lasted forever. Sasuke could've held her in his arms for all of eternity, as tightly as his strong arms would allow without breaking her in half. To him, she was fragile and needed to be protected at all costs. That was exactly what he intended on doing; protecting her. He decided he was under no circumstances _ever_ going to tell her what he was doing beforehand, even if they had to sneak behind everyone's backs to be able to be the way that they were now. He would wait until the time was right; when all of this was over.

That would just mean that they would have to be extremely cautious, to make sure that no one ever caught them together, or it could mean some serious problems.

"Sakura, what the hell are you doing!"

Well, shit, too late.

**Tenten  
**I was flying.

Or at least, that's what it felt like. My eyes were closed so I couldn't exactly look and see if I was floating around in mid-air like a ghost, or using a pair of huge angelic wings and flying around with airplanes and birds. My eyelids felt heavy, but I was nowhere near warm and sleepy. As a matter of fact, I felt wide awake beneath the dark world under my closed eyes. Frustration seemed to swirl inside me as I tried to make them fly open. They didn't lift in the slightest. The same happened when I tried to bring my hand over to them to pry them open. The frustration in me increased, but didn't lead me to the anger it usually did. Instead, it led to a sort of feeling of puzzlement, and formed a question in my mind.

_Why won't my eyes open?_

I tried to frown, but that didn't happen either. I didn't feel the muscles in my face tense or relax or react or whatever the hell face muscles do when you frown. The point is, I didn't feel myself frowning.

_Am I dead?_

The question filled my mind with dozens of reasons and denials of why I couldn't be dead. I was too young to die; I wouldn't let myself die so easily. Absolutely _nothing_ happened to me.

Then that's when it all clicked. Images flooded back to me in full speed; me running away from Neji and the scene that had happened, me stopping to get my breath, Zaku coming closer to me, Zaku putting the gun to my head. Then there was the stream of images of me kicking his ass, me putting the gun to his head, and finally, him putting _his_ gun to my crotch and me trying to jump out of the way while he pulled the trigger.'

_Shit, I think I'm dead_.

_But I can't be_, I whined mentally to myself. _I'm too young to die; I've got my entire life ahead of me, and I never got the chance to kill Orochimaru for what he did._

That was what saddened me most, because I really wanted to get him back. Suddenly, I was filled with the childish impulse to cry and throw things, even though I couldn't move my arms or legs or just about any part of my body. The urge to cry was overwhelming and I tried to at least control the impulse to let tears start running down my cheeks in rapids, but I couldn't.

And then the weirdest thing happened. Nothing came out. There were no tears, no sobs; nothing but absolute stillness and quietness. I still had the upsetting urge to cry my heart out, and I admit I just wanted it to happen so I could get it over with, but absolutely nothing happened. There were no tears collecting in the corners of my eyes, no salt water leaving tracks on my cheeks, no quick blinking to keep them from coming. There was absolutely nothing.

That frightened me. How could there be nothing? I was dead, right? Didn't that mean that I had to spiritually go someplace?

Where did spirits go after they didn't have a body? If it wasn't Heaven and if it wasn't Hell, then did they just hang around on Earth and chill like everything's normal?

There's a creepy thought.

_Am I dead?_

The question ran through my mind again. And then I couldn't help but think that it was a stupid question. If I was dead, would I have been able to think so clearly? Wouldn't I have been weightless and able to do whatever I wanted in a dream realm or whatever the fuck happened to dead people, other than being tossed six feet underground with a crowd gathered around to watch?

And that connected with my previous thought. That's when I realized I was paranoid; circling in my own thoughts, scaring myself half to death.

If I wasn't dead already…

_Okay, Tenten, calm down and think about other things. Think about…think about… think about… Cherries! And chocolate! And… sunshine, and fire, and flowers, and the moon, and enlightenment._

At the last one I let out a mental bubble of laughter.

_Enlightenment? Who the fuck am I; Buddha?_

Hee. Hee hee.

_No seriously, think about it; Cherries, and chocolate, and sunshine, and fire, and flowers, and the moon, and…and…grapes._

_Grapes?_

Another mental giggle. My head was silly.

Strangely, thinking about thinking about (huh!) cherries, and chocolate, and sunshine, and fire, and flowers, and the moon, and grapes made me think about Kunai. I would've smiled if I had power over any of the muscles in my body. First came Sakura, then Sakurambo, then Ino, then Temari, then Karin, and finally Hinata. The girls' faces flashed through my mind, each calming me just a little more until I fell into complete peace.

And then sadness came over me, which made me think that I was experiencing some serious PMS and had to go home and put a pad on ASAP. But anyway; the thought came up that if I was dead, I would never be able to see them again. My life was a hell on Earth before I'd met them, and now that I knew them, my life wasn't perfect, but I was happy. Those girls, without knowing it, picked me up when I couldn't do it myself, dusted me off, and gave me a push forward (metaphorically speaking of course). They set me back on my path, kept me straight. If it wasn't for them, I probably would've ended up like Ami and her whores…except a lot less whorish; actually, not whorish in the slightest way possible.

_Kunai…_

The overwhelming urge to cry was back, and it was twice as bad this time because when the tears didn't come, I tried to force them to. But I couldn't do anything about it. My body was dead to me; I had no control over it.

_I really am dead…_

"No you're not!"

_Holy shit!_

That scared the shit out of me, even though that voice seemed vaguely familiar. I didn't think it was possible for someone to hear me and read my thoughts if I was dead. I couldn't see who was in front of me, but whoever it was, it was a female. The voice was high-pitched, and seemed sweet. Whoever it was seemed nice.

"You worship toilets?"

A picture started to form in my mind. I could tell it was in my head because my eyes were still closed and I still couldn't move any part of my body. Everything still felt heavy, even though I still felt like I was flying.

_Huh?_

"Do you worship toilets?"

It was a blurred image at first, slowly sharpening itself like a sample under a microscope. It seemed to grow and shrink before it finally began to settle and clear up. I could make out smudges of blue and purple pinpricks. There was a greenish smudge that took up a little space under the other two blends of color. Around the edges of the blob was white.

_What the hell, what kind of question is that?_

The picture finally clarified enough for me to see, but with the way she spit out her next few words in a sneer made me automatically recognize that disgusting, bitchy, whiny voice and face.

"You said, 'Holy shit', so I'm fucking asking you if you worship toilets, weird ass."

_Ami?_

"No shit Sherlock."

She was actually descent here, wearing a green dress that clung to her form on the top up until a ribbon and poofed out at the bottom, ending a little below mid-thigh. The top was cut into a low v-neck that ended right before her boobies, yet still gave off an innocent sense of modest sensuality. Her hair was collected up into a cute messy bun, bangs out in a fringe with the ones she usually kept out to the sides to show off her jaw-line. Her purple eyes were lined with black eyeliner all around, and she made a thick, lash-like tail at the end of each eye. Her nails were acrylic and painted black. Her heels wrapped around her ankles up to the tops of her calves, black as midnight, and for once, _under_ five inches tall; maybe an appropriate four or three inches.

She looked absolutely _nothing_ like the bitchy, rude, aggravating ass slut that constantly tried to steal my boyfriend. She looked like a spoiled rich girl who belonged at a club.

_What the hell are you doing here?_

"Asking you if you worship toilets."

I sighed mentally (did I still have a brain if I was dead?) at her statement.

_No I mean why did you come in the first place?_

"Oh that? To tell you that you're not dead…"

_I'm not?_

"Did you not just hear me tell you that you're not?" Another sneer.

_Well excuse me! But I'm pretty stressed and confused here! If I'm not dead, then what the fuck am I?_

"You're in a sort of…in-between; in the middle of being dead and being alive. You're dying but you're not dead." She blinked twice, and I saw the green shadow she had on her eyes. It glittered under a moon that was more silver than silver itself.

The backdrop behind her cleared out, and all I saw was a deep forest with a black sky and silver moon up above, trillions of little stars blinking brilliantly, some reminding me somewhat of flowers blooming in spring. Distantly, there were a couple other silver balls of light, shining almost as brightly as the moon. Something about them made me feel drained and depressed. I frowned, wondering what it was, and realized that I had joined Ami in a mentally physical state, kind of like when Ino was in your head or whatever, and had control over this spiritual representation of my body.

Vaguely, I sensed a fruity aroma in the warm, sweet breeze.

"Those are Neji's eyes…"

I jumped visibly to see Ami standing right next to me, purple eyes shining as she gazed up at the two bright lights that easily outshone the stars around them. "Excuse me?"

Hey I could talk!

"Those are Neji's eyes. If you look closely, you can see the worry in them."

Oh. That's what was so upsetting.

"Why are Neji's eyes in this realm?"

At this question, she looked over at me, eyes glimmering with a sort of hidden emotion. "Why else? This is your veil realm." I must've looked confused (which I definitely was) because she heaved out a long sigh and placed a surprisingly gentle hand on my shoulder, a sort of sisterly type of guidance in her gaze. "The veil realm is, in a sense, the place right after and right before death and right before life. The veil isn't gone, or ever here; the veil just _is_. It's thickest when a healthy baby is first born, and thinnest when a person as in their worst state of health. It's dark but gas-like when the person is alive, which is really weird because that just makes you think that you're gonna go in at any time if you know about it, but transparent and solid when the person is dead, on the other side of the veil looking in on the people he or she cares about. They can't directly see the person, but there's always some sort of significance for everything in a person's personal veil realm. Each person has their own realm, in case I forgot to tell you. This is _your_ realm, Tenten." I blinked at her explanation, and of all the things I could've asked, the first question that came to me went something like this:

"Huh?"

She gave me a dazzling smile, showing teeth that weren't decayed from smoking and drinking like the slut that she was in reality, and actually very white and straight. "In other words, everybody has their own special realm just like this. Everything in their realm represents something or someone they care about. Those two silvery bright lights up there," she pointed to the two balls of silver, "are Neji's eyes. They represent what captures you most about him." I blinked a couple times. "Wait, but why would Neji's eyes be what captures me most about him?" She gave me a sweet, knowing smile. "Think about it for a second; what do you see whenever you look into Neji's eyes?"

"I see the way he feels about me, but what does that have to-…" I trailed off near the end, knowing the answer automatically. "Oh…" Ami nodded. "Yeah; you see just how much he loves you in those eyes. You don't know it, but that's where he shows his heart to you, and that's what captures you; his heart." I pursed my lips in thought, thinking back on her explanation of the veil realm. "But wait; why would I only have Neji in this realm? Where are the girls?" Again, she smiled knowingly. "When you panicked, you told yourself to think of cherries, chocolate, fire, sunshine, the moon, flowers, and grapes. Tell me, what do you smell?"

She was referring to the fruity aroma around us. I frowned and sniffed the air. "I smell…cherries…cherries and grapes." Her smile was effervescent. "Who do cherries remind you of?"

_Oh_.

"Sakurambo." She nodded. "Now tell me Tenten; what color grape do you like best?" I blinked. "Purple," I said automatically. "Who loves purple?"

_Oh._

"Ino." She nodded once more and continued. "How does the breeze feel when it goes by?" I felt comforted as the wind blew through my hair, which I realized was let loose and cascading down below my shoulders. "It's warm."

"What gives the Earth warmth during the day?"

"Sunshine; the fire on the sun."

Her smile broadened. "Who's got a grin like sunshine?"

I could see where this was going. "Oh; Temari! Okay I get it! And the moon is Hinata, because her eyes look like little moons. And the fire is Karin, because she's got bright red hair. The flowers are Sakura, because her name's Sakura. And…" I froze, thinking hard. "Wait; who the hell is the chocolate?"

Ami raised an eyebrow, looking directly at me.

"Oh wait; why am I chocolate?"

"Because your hair and eyes make you resemble a life-size Snickers Bar."

"Gee thanks."

She let out a little laugh that was melodious, ringing kind and playful. "No problem!" I shook my head, but couldn't help but smile. When she wasn't being a bitch, her joy was infectious, and she was actually pretty without the layers of hatred and rudeness that she usually directed at me. "Okay, so the girls and Neji are all here, but why are the girls so indirect and Neji so boldly out there?" She gave me a sad sort of smile now, showing a sort of truth in her purple eyes. "Because even though you still might not know it, Neji's love for you is worth more to you than anything else in this world. And he's the only one with you in reality right now, carrying you home so you can be healed and won't have to stay in this realm, watching everyone suffer from here in an indirect way that's absolutely frustrating."

I frowned, narrowing my eyes in thought. "So the shot was that bad…"

Ami nodded, answering my rhetorical question. It wasn't like I needed a confirmation.

Something scary happened then; a loud slam came from somewhere in the veil realm, giving the illusion that a door had been slammed shut. Ami's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, and she looked at me, clearly alarmed. "Shit! Tenten, you have to try and stay alive!"

I felt my scowl deepen. "But how? I don't know how this realm works!"

Another slam, another theoretical door closing and locking me in this realm. This time, the noise brought with it a thin misty fog that seemed to press in on us. "What's happening," I asked, my gut twisting tightly in my stomach. I hoped with all my heart that it wasn't what I thought it was. "You're dying," Ami said, voice thick with desperation and alarm. She was looking around, searching frantically for something, but the mist only seemed to thicken with her anxiety. "Umm…Umm…"

"How do I get out?"

She didn't stop looking around but said, "You have to find the veil and go through it." I pursed my lips into a frown, helping her look for the veil while a thought plagued me. "Wait, but didn't you say that once you were dead that the wall became solid and all you could do was watch the ones you cared about." She nodded and said, "But you're not dead yet. You will be if you don't find that veil."

My scowl deepened. "So is it still completely gas?"

She turned to me and shook her head. "No it's not; it's begun solidifying." Panic rose in me, and my next few words came out in a harsh screech that hurt my own ears. "Then how the hell am I supposed to get out?" She looked at me for a quick half-second before continuing to look for the veil. "Tenten, think back to science. Before a gas can condense into a solid it must first condense into a-."

"Liquid!" I finished for her. "But wait, won't I get wet?"

She didn't look at me, but nodded as she continued looking for the veil. The misty fog intensified in thickness. "Yeah, metaphorically of course, which is why people wake up in the first place when they go through the veil." I frowned. "What if someone's comatose?" She heaved a sigh as I continued to help her search for the veil through the thick fog. "It just means that they didn't exactly want to go back. They wanted to stay away from the stresses of life and stay here but they didn't want to die, so they get a stress-free vegetable life."

There had been a little space between us. Now there was nothing but fog. I could vaguely make out a dimmed out outline of her blue bun. "How the hell do you know all of this?" The question slipped before I could stop it. Her cheeks widened a bit into what I would've imagined to have been a small smile. "Ask Karin," she said, "She'll tell you." I frowned as I continued to search for the veil, wondering how Karin could've known the cause of Ami's knowledge of a world of death.

A scream made me jump about ten feet into the air. I whipped around, automatically reaching for my thigh to whip out a kunai and snap it in her general direction but felt nothing but my own skin. Besides that, Ami was practically jumping for joy. "What? What? What happened?" As a reply, she pointed toward a waterfall that poured off into a frozen lake. I frowned. "What the hell? How did the water fall _not_ freeze over, like the lake?"

She looked over at me and grinned wider. "It's the Veil Realm, honey; _anything's _possible. But on a completely different note; _that's _your way out!" I blinked for a minute as I stared at the lake, and then looked up at the rapidly flowing waterfall. "Are you sure?" A knot formed in my stomach, making me feel nervous and queasy. She nodded energetically, grabbing a hold of my arm and beginning to drag me forward with an ease that came close to nearly matching Sakura's. She gave me a push when we reached the edge of the lake that made me stumble forward onto the thick ice.

In turn, I slipped and slid before skidding to a stop in front of the waterfall. My eyes widened as I saw it begin to freeze over, starting at the top and making its way rapidly down. I turned with huge eyes to look at Ami. "GO," was all she yelled out at me. I turned back to face the freezing waterfall.

_Shit if I wake up alive and freezing my ass off into hypothermia I might just cry._

I looked back one last time to see the sweet Ami that had helped me out in this world, curious if I would ever see that face show such kindness in this lifetime, before shutting my eyes tight and jumping through the crystalline, thin ice that had begun to layer itself around the bottom of the waterfall.

xXOXx

Her eyes flew open, making him automatically stop, gasping for air as he looked down at her. She was shivering, as if freezing, but sweat was beading on her forehead, as if she were melting. He turned and leaned up against the side of brick building, looking down at her as he held her bridal style in his arms. He was just a few blocks away from the house now, and it had taken him about a third of the time than it had while he was chasing her around.

She lifted a weak, shivering, clammy hand and grasped the front of his shirt. A small smile painted over her pink lips, and her next few words delighted him, but only for an instant, because as soon as she said them she fell right back into unconsciousness. "Neji…I love you…" He smiled reassuringly at her, giving her the illusion that all would be well, when he was secretly hoping for a miracle himself. He placed a hand on her forehead, struggling to keep her steady in his arms. She was cold, still, but still breathing.

He wasn't sure if she was going to keep that up long enough to be healed, but what he did know that if those were her last words, he would kill himself.

Definitely. Because even after all he'd put her through, she still loved him, and that was what hurt him most.

He placed his hand back under the backs of her knees and headed out again toward the house.

xXOXx

**Sakura  
**"Sakura, what the hell are you doing?"

Shit. Fuck my life.

I jumped away from Sasuke and immediately reached toward my pouch for a kunai to fight and knock-out whoever had seen me and Sasuke. As soon as I turned toward the sound of the voice, however, I came into eye contact with Kankuro. His eyes showed bewilderment and suspicion, yet anger and revulsion all at once. I felt my eyes widen and slipped the kunai back into my pouch, pushing my hands out in front of me in an attempt to deny what he'd just witnessed.

"Wait, Kankuro, you didn't see what you thought you just saw!"

He raised an eyebrow at me, crossing his arms over his chest, and I noted that he was holding his gun. "How do you know what I saw?" I tried not to frown in a _'Shit he just caught me lying'_ type of way, but tried to recover my composure with a smooth, "I don't, but by the look on your face you're thinking you saw something you didn't."

"Well I'm _hoping_ I didn't see what I think I saw, even though the fact that you and Sasuke _aren't_ fighting and are both looking like you're having a hard time fighting down tomato faces has me thinking that I _did_ see what I think I saw."

Huh?

Wait.

Oh.

"What do you mean? We were fighting until you woke up and yelled."

Kankuro gave me a cocky smirk that said he wasn't buying my story. Sometimes he just knew me that well.

Well that wasn't creepy at all.

"So Sasuke could've taken the chance to kill you or hurt you but I don't see that happening…"

Sasuke and I looked at each other for a moment, and it was clear that he was sharing my thoughts.

_Fuck we're screwed._

Sasuke's arm was wrapped around my arms in a millisecond. He snatched the knife that I had taken when Kankuro threw it out the window from my hand and put it in my neck in that same second and whispered a hasty "_just play along"_ in my ear.

"You see what you get me into Kankuro!"

He raised an eyebrow into a smirk, amused.

_He's still not buying it_._ Great, now I have to be the bitchy, abusive girlfriend._

I clenched my hands into fists and pushed my arms outward, making Sasuke loosen his grip on me. I wrapped my hand around his forearm, gripped it with my other hand, and flipped him over me. He caught himself before he could lose his balance, took a couple steps forward, and then showed up behind me using that creepy super-speed thing that he does.

I rammed my elbow backward and missed his torso by millimeters. He twisted around me, facing me directly, before lunging forward and pushing me down onto the soft, cold grass behind me. I curled up halfway into a fetal position before kicking him off of me before he even landed. He rolled backward onto his feet and put a hand down on the ground to steady himself.

I smirked slightly at him, feeling Kankuro watching us with a smirk on his own face. Despite the fact that I _knew_ Kankuro wasn't buying a minute of this, I had to admit that fighting like this was kind of fun. It reminded me of when we were in training.

How I missed that…

My smirk fell, making concern flash through his eyes for the briefest instant before he propelled himself forward off his feet at me. I rolled to the side and got up, pulling a kunai out of my pouch as I did. I chucked it at him as he got up and missed slicing his arm by inches, completely on purpose of course.

He smirked at me and back-flipped up onto the branch of one of the trees from the forest behind the house. Then he jumped up into the higher up branches, hiding behind the leaves of the trees.

_Oh he's good._

He practically disappeared behind them and I automatically stepped toward the darkness of the morning forest, thinking that he had left without saying goodbye. That left me with a sort of sinking feeling that quickly turned into fear as I felt the cold metal of a blade touching my throat.

My breath hitched in my through and my entire body tensed. A strong arm wrapped itself around my arms, which had me instantly recognizing him before he whispered in my ear.

"Sakura, you act like you were expecting it to be someone else."

I relaxed in the slightest, keeping full attention on the cold of the knife that was being pressed into the side of my neck. "How'd you get down from the trees so fast and so quiet?" I was curious; I hadn't heard him come down, and I had really keen ears.

"I jumped; duh."

A small smile found its way onto my face, but I wiped it clean off and elbowed him in the gut, hard enough to make him let go but not hard enough for it to hurt…too bad.

He let go, dropping the knife. I picked it up and tossed it to the side. It embedded itself into a random tree. I smirked at him, raising an eyebrow in challenge. He smirked right back and me and hurled himself back up into the trees.

I, in turn, closed my eyes and strained my ears for the slightest sound of him, the tiniest hint of his presence. There was absolutely nothing.

"Sakura!" My name was called out in Kankuro's voice and I cracked an eye open to see him inching his way toward me slowly, cautious on whether Sasuke was still around or not.

What happened next scared the shit outta me and had Kankuro shitting bricks.

Sasuke's face appeared right before mine; upside down. He smirked up at me, and I could vaguely see the cockiness in his expression. He was planning something.

Completely disregarding the fact that Kankuro was there, right behind him, he brought his hands up…or down…or…whatever! He brought his hands to my cheeks and cupped my face. Before I had any time to react at all, he was pressing his lips to mine, and I was kissing him back instantly, automatically. I brought my own hands up to his face, holding it right where it was.

Weirdly enough, kissing him upside-down was just like kissing him right-side up.

But that was just the thing that bothered me; he was upside down, and the blood was probably rushing to his head. _And_ Kankuro was watching. I quickly pulled back, breaking the kiss, and probably turning ten different shades of red across my cheeks. He smirked into a slight chuckle, whispering a "see you" before pulling himself back up into the trees and flipping away; back to whatever the fuck he was _really_ doing over with Orochimaru's gang.

I looked behind me, watching him fade, go deeper into the darkness, before turning to face Kankuro. He was smirking at me. "Yeah; you _definitely_ weren't doing what I thought I saw you doing." I glared. "Oh shut the fuck up!" He let out a laugh and placed an arm around my shoulders. "It's okay, I promise I won't tell anyone."

I frowned and looked up at him. "Wait, what? Why not?" He frowned himself and looked down at me. "You mean you want me to?" I shook my head. "No! I don't! But I'm shocked; why aren't you gonna tell anyone?" He cast his gaze sideways. "Because I saw the look he gave you; he loves you a lot. So I trust that he won't hurt you…_too_ much…"

I let out a slight laugh and pulled Kankuro into a tight hug. "Awe, see this is why I love you," I gushed out. He laughed and hugged me back, although his arms were weak around me. "Hug me tighter dummie," I said, half-laughing.

His only reply was "I can't; you're squeezing the air out of me." I laughed and let him go. "Okay so then why don't we go home before everybody gets suspicious?" He nodded and we both headed around the house to go down the street and to the guys' house. I was still giggling like a little drunken hummingbird.

That is, until I saw Neji sprinting toward the house with an unconscious Tenten in his arms.

I gasped and sprinted over to him, my eyes widening as I noticed a particularly large blood stain on the front of her skirt. Ironically enough, we both ended up in front of the house. "What the hell happened," I practically screamed out. He dropped down to his knees, holding her limp form tightly against himself, cradling her like a young child. "Zaku found her and shot her. Sakura you've gotta get her better; she's _dying_. She's so cold."

He didn't look like he was going to last much longer himself with how hard he was breathing.

"Well then hand her over here, I'll get started," I said and reached out to have her placed in my arms. Even though he looked completely exhausted, Neji got up and stepped backward, holding her even closer to himself. "No; I've got her, I'll just take her in." I frowned at that, wondering why he didn't want to let her go even though he looked as though he was about to pass out.

I searched those silver eyes of his and in them noticed a love that was so strong it filled _me_ with warmth and happiness. I recognized that love; it was burning in me, somewhere deep in my heart at the moment, swirling around thoughts of Sasuke.

I understood his feelings for her then; his _true_ feelings for her, and gave him a slight nod. "Well then hurry your ass up and take her into a bedroom and lay her down on her back. I need to have a look at that wound." He nodded and sprinted into the house.

Remembering Kankuro, I turned around to check on him.

But he was gone; without a trace.

_Shit, now _he's_ gonna get hurt too_.

But I didn't waste time on the thought. I snapped on a pair of gloves and ran into the house after Neji; I had a life to save.

xXOXx

He was mad.

No, he was angry.

No; he was beyond angry, he was absolutely _infuriated_.

What he'd just seen had sent a wild sort of animal, instinctive anger through his blood, and he was currently sprinting back through the forest to Orochimaru's hideaway.

_Zaku._

_Zaku._

_Zaku._

The sick bastard had always had a sort of fetish with Tenten; was deeply obsessed with her, and wanted her so badly that he would be willing to hurt her if he couldn't have her, and now he'd actually done it.

_Well he's gone too fucking far now_, Kankuro thought to himself as he jumped over a large tree root. _Today's the day that motherfucker dies._

_And I'll be sure of it…_

__

* * *

- Okay so first and foremost ; sorry this is SOOOOOO late :x but between homework, projects, sports, stress, texting, drama, and an incredibly picky mentality, I had to rewrite this ENTIRE chapter :x

Simply because I had it written out and absolutely DISLIKED how it turned out...so I erased it and rewrote it ^_^ ; it's not my best but I'm content with it, and I was really too tired to write this same piece in about a billion different ways to then choose out which one was right. lOl

But anyway; I hope you like it! And I'll probably have the next chapter up in a few days; it's halfway done Loves lOl

Now here's something I'm sure I haven't done in a while; Suspense Questions (; :

Did going through the veil really save Tenten?

Did Tenten really get shot where Zaku was aiming?

Is Kankuro really going to Kill Zaku?

Is Neji going to die himself from running three miles in about ten to fifteen minutes?

What is Sasuke REALLY doing in Orochidumbass's Gang?

Hmm...  
Heehee sorry I just HAD to put that last one there to tease you guys a bit (; because THAT question won't be answered until Fate (HINT HINT!)

But just so you guys won't kill me here's a preview of the next chapter:

He faced the last five guards proudly, ready for anything, and absolutely confident that they wouldn't be able to even scratch the skin on his arms. "Bring it you double-digit IQ bitch-asses," he shouted back at them, his smirk getting cockier by the minute.

Heehee spoilers ; oh it's like cookies on ice-cream before dinner :x but to hell with it it's Friday, I'm exhausted and probably sound like I'm on crack, even though I'm positively clean, sober, healthy, and not putting white powder up my nose ^_^

You wouldn't believe it but that little paragraph is a BIG giveaway of the next chapter (; heehee

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter ^_^ and I also hope you're in shock that I actually updated; so much so that you won't be able to blueprint a plan that will lead to a clean procedure of my murder lOl.

Happy Friday ^_^

- Xoxo ; Kiki 3

PS; I editted the lyrics to that song just a bit and if you look it up you'll know why. Here's it's a commodity, a word used like 24/7 but in other places it's considered offensive so I left it out and changed it. :x

And yes I know this a long A/N heehee. You're all dismissed; For Now (;


	30. Warfare

**Chapter Thirty  
****Warfare**

_I said I really wanna work this out  
__Damn girl I'm trying  
__It's no excuse,  
__No excuse_

_I got this ice box where my heart used to be  
__Said I got this ice box where my where used to be – Omarian_

-**Warfare**-

He sprinted through the forest, fists clenched as he ran; ready to come into direct contact with whomever's face came up first to stop him. He was nearing the end of the forest now. It had only taken him a few minutes. Through a parting in the trees, he could easily see the other end of the abandoned side of the shithole of a city that she'd come to save.

She'd wanted to do it, not because she didn't want someone like Orochimaru taking power over Japan, but because, regardless of what she said about Konoha, she loved it. It was where she was born, where she was raised, where she met the girls that had become the only family she had now. It was where she'd been ignored and mistreated by her father, and salvaged by her mother. It held memories for her that she both hated and cherished all at once; bittersweet recollections of the short time she'd had with that broken family of hers.

Konoha was her _true_ home, whether she wanted it to be or not. She both hated and loved it for that, and _that_ was why she'd wanted to save it.

And now she was _dying_ because of it.

_Well whether she dies or not blood is gonna be fucking spilt. And it's NOT gonna be mine,_ he thought furiously to himself.

He broke through the edge of the forest out behind an abandoned warehouse and darted down the street, heading in the direction of Orochimaru's hideout, because he knew that that was where that disgraceful, upset, obsessed, abusive, cocky bastard was going to be after doing something like shooting Tenten.

He pictured himself tying him down to a table and slowly dripping water onto his head. He pictured himself smirking as he slowly drifted toward insanity. He could _feel_ the thoughts radiating from his mind. _I'm drowning; I'm dying. Don't kill me_.

And then Kankuro would find himself laughing at Zaku's panicked, paranoid misery. Then he'd fill the room with water quickly, enough to slip under Zaku's back, terrify him a little more. Then from a distance, he'd shoot the disgusting bastard four times, once in each arm and once in each leg, and then laugh at him as he writhed with pain. Then he'd exit and fill the room to an inch above Zaku's head, and watch happily as he drowned, unable to swim or jump up to the surface to save himself.

Yeah; a nice, sweet, suffering and painful death. He liked the way that sounded. It gave him the same satisfaction as hearing Tenten's voice.

The thought that he might never hear the voice again had him speeding up and rounding a corner before he could linger on his sorrow more than he could on his anger. He held on tightly to the burning rage within him and ran along down three more blocks.

He was close; he recognized the worsening streets and abandonment that fear had brought into this part of this huge shitty town that Tenten loved so much. He sped up, ran the half a block up then made the sharp turn into the alleyway where the backdoor was. He stopped there, reading the graffiti on the back and automatically feeling disgust. It mingled with his lack of air and gave him the strong urge to vomit, although he held it back like a man and regained his breath fairly quickly considering the distance he'd just run.

His eyes scanned over the thick wooden door. It looked as though it had been knocked in and then lazily placed back up on its hinges. He shook his head as he stored the sight of it in his brain. He wanted to remember what the place looked like before he went in and let loose the burning hell that was raging inside him, like demons at a Christmas party.

He drew in a deep breath and put his ear to the door, trying to focus his breathing so he could hear what was happening on the other side. There was the sound of drunken laughter; deep rumbling vibrations that reverberated through the wooden doors into Kankuro's ear. He cursed mentally; they were guards.

"_I swear, this job is so easy,"_ He heard one say. _"Who in their right fucking mind would come down here to Orochimaru-sama's headquarters and try to do damage? Like could they really be that stupid?" _There was more deep laughter before a different, not-as-deep-but-still-deep voice said _"Well those idiot girls from Kunai and the three little gangs they've got alliances or affiliations or fuck buddies or baby daddies or whatever the fuck those stupid-asses are might come down and try._"

There was silence at that thought, up until one guy brought up what Kankuro wanted to hear to get him motivated to go in there. After hearing it, he pulled out his gun, clicked back the safety and kicked the door down.

"_Yeah but that stupid chocolate-bar bitch one, the leader, I think her name was like Twelvetwelve or Tentwelve or some shit like that got shot today. Zaku shot her, right in the crotch he said, cuz that hoe was fucking around with the Hyuga. He told Orochimaru-sama that she was already out of breath and that her heart was still bad because of when Boss shot her in the chest. He said he dragged her into an alley that was completely dark and left her for dead. Said that if she wasn't going to be his and join up with us then she wasn't worth it and was better off dead." _There was another, much louder, uproar of laughter, and _that_ was what sent Kankuro in with his gun at the ready.

"_Yo! Who the fuck is this bitch ass?"_

**BANG**

Kankuro shot straight at the guy who called him a bitch ass, who was actually the same person who had called Tenten a hoe. He didn't know whether she was still a virgin or not, but he was absolutely _positive_ that she was _not_ anywhere near being a hoe, unlike the girls that played for this team.

He absolutely _loved_ the way the blood poured out of the guy's torso, staining his white t-shirt. His smirk was crooked as he turned on the next few guards. He was ready, his gun was set, and he had extra bullets on him just in case of anything.

"_Oh hell nah, he shot Dosu!"_

"_Kill that stupid ass motherfucker!"_

He faced the last five guards proudly, ready for anything, and absolutely confident that they wouldn't be able to even scratch the skin on his arms. "Bring it you double-digit IQ bitch-asses," he shouted back at them, his smirk getting cockier by the minute.

That was all they needed to get started. They all darted toward him, knives and fists ready. He dodged their attacks and shot at them, managing to get one in the leg and knock him down and get the other in the shoulder and knock him over. The other three were still coming at him, one with a knife, one with a dagger, and one with his fists.

He ducked easily under the third one's fists and kicks and gripped his arm tightly, simultaneously putting his gun in its holster. He twisted the guy's arm around then turned him, pressing his arm into his back. They guard let out a rough, husky scream of pain as Kankuro pushed his head down, stepped onto his back, and, still pushing his arm down against his back, did a handstand and kicked the other two guards; one in the chest and one in the head.

He then proceeded to flipping off of the dude and flipping him over his shoulder. The guy landed on his back just as a sickening _CRACK_ resounded around the room.

Kankuro had just snapped his arm like a twig.

He felt a dangerous smile play across his lips then, one that hadn't come onto his face in years. It was a smile similar to that of a cheetah who'd just caught up to her prey and was ready to pounce. It highly resembled the grin Tenten had worn when she'd been called a tramp at Orochimaru's hideout when they went to go drag Sasuke back. But Kankuro didn't know that; Kankuro just knew that his anger had just gotten to the point where he was _smiling_ at the thought of harming these fools that thought they would stop him from ultimately getting to Zaku and ripping him apart piece by piece.

"_Oh shit, he got Sakon!"_

"_Get that bastard before he kills somebody!"_

Kankuro's smile only broadened as the next guy came at him. He was at the very least three times bigger than the last one, and just as ugly, if not uglier. The guy swung and Kankuro bent backwards limbo-style before flipping backward, kicking the underside of the guys jaw in the process, right where it met the throat. He cut off his air for a second, blocking the passageway. The guard's face turned white with shock and his hands flew to his throat. It was only for a moment, but when Kankuro was feeling this dangerous and needed to spill blood this much, a moment was way too much time. What he could do in a moment with the way that he felt rivaled that of what Sakura could do on one of her seriously _nasty_ rampages. Now _that_ was scary.

Before the big dude could react, Kankuro sprang forward, unbelievably enough, knocking him backward with the force of his weight. The guy grunted as the back of his head hit the floor. Kankuro's eyes briefly glanced over his head and noted blood beginning to leak. That pleased him, just the slightest bit. It was blood, but it wasn't _his_ blood. He wanted _Zaku's_ blood.

His eyes narrowed into that bitter, dangerous smile of his, as he brought his fist back and slammed it against the guy's face over and over again. "Where's Zaku," he yelled out as he did it, wanting to know where the dirty rotten bastard was. When the guy didn't reply, Kankuro grabbed the front of his shirt and shook him, the back of the guy's head continuously hitting the hard floor every single time Kankuro pushed him out instead of pulled him in.

"_You rotten brat! Leave Juugo alone! Don't you see the weak little bitch is dead?"_

Kankuro turned and, still crouching over the big guy, dodged a blow to the head by the guard he'd injured earlier. His arm was bent weirdly, and that pleased him as well, feeding the fire of the beast within him. The beast he was absolutely certain would not be sated until Zaku's blood was spilled out entirely, until his body was pale as paper and cold as ice and his heart grew blue and ceased to beat. The guy, Sakon, had tried to get him with his good arm, but Kankuro knew better. He grabbed the guy's arm, purely out of instinct, and worked it to his advantage. He placed his own arm right where Sakon's arm bent, at the back of the elbow, and bent it back, rendering it useless. He stood in a movement faster than lightning and kicked the back of his knee. Sakon fell backward, the wind knocked out of him the moment his back came into contact with the floor.

Kankuro brought his fist back and knocked it into the side of Sakon's face, breaking his jaw. He then crouched back down and grabbed him by the neck. "Where's Zaku! Where's the bastard, huh!" He was shouting, as well as beginning to be surrounded by a bunch of guards that he would have to take down to get to the person he wanted to kill so badly. Sakon struggled to speak with all the blood in his throat, tried to speak through the broken jaw. Kankuro saw him struggling and began to squeeze the man's neck. "No answer! Fine! Then you're of no use to me! Time to end you're fucking suffering, you stupid asshole!"

He squeezed as hard as he could then, until he could no longer feel Sakon's ragged breathing hitting his face. He pulled himself off of the mangled body and stood, ready to face the onslaught of guards that stood around him, ready to go in for the kill. They'd called in backup in the short time that it had taken him to kill the first three. Now, before him, stood five more guards. He smiled sourly to them all, and pulled out his gun again, twirling it around his finger before letting it settle in his hand and shooting three of the guards, catching the last two off guard.

He laughed at them, feeling rather merciless as the three that he'd shot fell to the floor, their life's blood pouring out slowly. He rounded on the two guards, which were conveniently enough, the original last two guards. "So since you were here, are you going to tell me where the fuck that rotten little bastard Zaku is?" The guards' eyes held terror. They shared a long look before looking at Kankuro. The one on Kankuro's left took his gun and threw it to the ground. "Look, I'm tryna make it through this. I don't wanna die just yet; I want an heir first, then you can come and kill me. If I tell you where Zaku is, will you let me live?"

Kankuro raised an eyebrow, feeling a smirk play onto his face again, replacing the dangerous smile with a more sadistic look. "Sure; so tell me where the bastard is!"

The guard on the right, too, threw his gun down and raised his hands. "Zaku's up in his room. He's probably in the shower washing off all the um…blood off his clothes. You've got about ten minutes to get up there if you wanna sneak up on him, fifteen if you actually want to catch him before he goes to the whorehouse."

Zaku went to the whorehouse?

_How sad; that bastard has to pay bruised, abused, owned girls to screw him because he can't get a real girl himself._

He gave the two men before him an easy smile. "That's better," he said to them. "Thanks."

And with that he shot the one on the left in the leg, and then once more in the arm. The guard howled in agony. "The first one was because you didn't tell me where Zaku was, you bastard. The second one is because you want to live," he said as he shot the second one in the stomach. He approached said guard and looked him straight in the eye. He could see the glint of terror in them, and gave him a reassuring smile. "Dear old buddy, old pal; you should've asked for the same deal. You'd better hope you pull through, or else your death will be in this pitiful looking room full of your comrade's bodies, and it will be slow and painful and terrorizing." He narrowed his eyes into that dangerous smile of his. "Have a nice day now, dumbass."

With that, he walked out into the next room, ready to beat down the rest of the guards that were surely waiting for him.

**Sakura  
**"Okay, easy there, just set her down. There we go." Neji straightened right after setting her down and I immediately got to work. "Okay Neji, now; get the fuck out." The air in the room was filled with question from him, and he didn't have to voice the _why_ for me to know that he was thinking it. "When I'm done fixing her up, she's gonna wake up, and you, my friend, are going to get your ass kicked for seeing what you shouldn't see for at least another three to four months to years." I could feel his frown of concern as I threw on a pair of gloves and slid across the hardwood floor to her skirt, a pair of scissors in my hand. "But what if she doesn't wake up?"

My gaze was sharp as I turned on him. "Neji! Get a hold of yourself! When have I _ever_ let Tenten go; when have I ever let her not wake up?" He shook his head. "But it's different this time! Her heart was already weak; I don't think her body can take something this big, no matter how much you heal her!" He was anxious, and his voice was cracking. I could've sworn I saw tears forming in the corners of his eyes, but then again it was about four thirty in the morning and I could've just been cracking from exhaustion. "Neji, let me ask you this; do you have faith in this chocolate bitch right here?" His eyebrows shot up at the wording of the question, but frankly I couldn't have cared less how I phrased everything right now. He was being such a fucking pessimist! "Of course I do," he said without hesitation, however. "Then you can trust when I say that your faith, and my faith, and _every-fucking-body's _faith, including her own, is gonna keep her alive! So you gotta go so I can get started!"

"But-!"

Tenten coughed then, cutting him off right then and there, and Neji took that as sign enough to leave the room. I immediately set to work on her again, reaching up to touch the side of her neck. Her pulse was barely readable through all the heavy breathing, or at least that's what I thought. Then I realized that it was just rather weak compared to how much oxygen she was actually taking in. Worry flooded through me, but I didn't let it beat out the determination I felt to save this girl's life…_again_.

I slid back down toward the bottom half of her body, cut up the sides of her skirt, and slipped the pieces off from under her. I didn't need to spread her legs to see the blood seeping through the shorts that she wore under the uniform. I bit my lip before cutting off the shorts and setting off onto the real work.

**Ino  
**"Wait, _what!_"

The words left my mouth before I could stop them. Sakurambo let out an annoyed growl. "Sakura's trying to keep Tenten from dying, _again_, and is currently being a gyno and checking her crotch cuz Zaku tried to shoot her there. It looks like a birthing scene up there from what I saw from Sakura's view." I tried to picture that, but couldn't, so I shook my head. "Wait, but, then shouldn't I be up there helping? I've gotta go up there!"

I started toward the stairs but Sakurambo stopped me, grabbing me by the arms. She steered me back to the couch and shook her head. "Sakura's fine up there; I can feel it. If she starts thinking she needs help, I'll send you up. She's fine right now. She can handle this. She knows it; she's done it before."

I bit my lip and leaned back against the sofa, casting my gaze to the side to look at Kiba. He, in turn, wrapped his arm around my shoulders and kissed the side of my head, right on the temple. "Calm down; Tenten'll be fine. She's been through a lot of situations like this; she'll pull through. She always does." I frowned in worry still, no matter how much Kiba's warm words wanted to wrap themselves around me and make me believe it would all be okay. But I didn't let the words get their way, because I knew that whenever everything was all warm and fuzzy, there was always a bucket of water waiting in a world of ice over the next door.

I knew; Tenten getting hurt was just proof of that. Sasuke leaving was proof of that. Neji and Tenten's fight and Kankuro's heartbreak was all proof of that. All of these things that were happening were proof of that; all because we'd found love.

_Fuck our pathetic lives! Love is a distraction, and it's a distraction we can't afford to have until after we beat the pathetic bastard that's been causing us so much pain in the first place._

I glanced up at Kiba and kissed him lightly on the cheek, trying to spare him the worry for me, because his eyes were hinting at it in the slightest ways. I gave him a bright, and highly phony, smile. "You're right."

_That's why I'm gonna be ready when this cold world takes what it wants from me and leaves me with nothing._

**Hinata  
**My arms wrapped tightly around Naruto's neck of their own accord.

I was scared.

No I was _beyond_ scared. I was absolutely terrified at the thought that Tenten was hurt yet again, and Kankuro had run off to Orochimaru's lair to kill Zaku. And on top of that, Neji looked absolutely _devastated_. I bit my lip and buried my face in Naruto's chest, taking comfort in his familiar scent of cologne, water, and laundry detergent. (He was actually a very clean guy!)

He wrapped his arms tightly around me and laid his chin against the top of my head. He didn't say anything to comfort me, and I had a feeling that it was more with the fact that he knew that I thought that just being in his embrace comforted me more than anything in the world than he couldn't think of anything to say to make me feel less terrified. I pulled back for a moment and my eyes instantaneously met his azure ones. In them there was a sureness that shined brighter than Karin's hair and a love that burned hotter than the sun. Yes, that was very cliché, but it was just about the only way to describe it.

Disregarding the fact that Neji was in the room completely, he brought his lips down onto mine and kissed me slowly, much more sweetly than he had before, which was surprising because his kisses were usually like cake. Now it was more like cake, dipped in ice-cream, rolled in brownie crumbs, and hung up by a licorice string to dry. It instantly made me smile and the worry melt away. His arms were strong and tight around my waist, just as confident and sure as he was. I was comforted all at once with that kiss, regardless of the fact that I could _feel_ Neji's glare behind us, trying persistently to burn a hole through Naruto's head.

His silly little dirty looks didn't have any effect on either of us. We were completely comfortable with him glaring his eyes out at us kissing in front of him.

"Naruto, get off my cousin or - …Hn…"

Now _that_, on the other hand, made me pull away. It wasn't that he had threatened Naruto; it was that he hadn't _finished_ the threat. That made me break the kiss and out of Naruto's embrace to walk over to my cousin. His head was down, his gaze met the floor, and there was a deep-set look of worry and thoughtfulness on his face that I was absolutely certain I hadn't seen in my lifetime. I reached out to put a hand on his shoulder and he automatically went on the defensive and twisted my arm so that the part where my arm bent in was out. He brought his other hand down to hit the pressure point that was there, but I blocked it just as fast as he tried to bring it down. His eyes widened for the slightest fraction of a second when he looked over at me.

He closed his eyes then, and let out a soft sigh. "Hinata, you know better than to sneak up on me when I'm thinking." I blinked and said simply, "But Neji, I was walking toward you, _in front of you_. I wouldn't exactly call that sneaking." He glowered and turned his head to the side. "Hn." He let go of my arm and yanked his out of my grip, folding them across his chest in a way that showed he was both embarrassed and upset. I couldn't help but giggle a little.

I'd hurt my cousin's ego, for like the first time in about ten or eleven years. The only three people I'd ever seen do that in recent times were Tenten, Sasuke, and Sakura. For me to have been able to do it…

That just meant that he was getting softer. He was changing, little by little.

The thought made me smile softly, and I placed my hand on his shoulder. He looked down at it without turning his head and then looked up at me. I gave him as brilliant a smile as I could muster. "Oh don't worry, nii-san, she'll be fine!" He raised an eyebrow at me. "And how do you know?"

Oh, somebody was being a pessimist…

"Because I've known Tenten for most of my life, and even before she became my sister-like best friend, I could always tell that she was one who _always_ got her way; no matter the circumstances. If she wanted something, she got it. She got you, she got Sakurambo back, Sakura cheered up; everything she wants, she _gets_ nii-san. And now that she has all of this, I'm pretty sure she _wants_ to live for it all. She'll be fine; she'll wake up and probably limp-run to squeeze the life out of you. So don't worry, just relax. Tenten's gonna be fine."

He raised an eyebrow before turning to face me fully. He did something that completely shocked me at first, because it was something that had _never_ been done. He hugged me. It wasn't a weird, incest, lovey-dovey type hug. I would know what lovey-dovey was, because of Naruto. No it was more of a hug family gave to family, but friendlier. "Tell anyone about this, and this time I _will_ kill you Hinata." I laughed at my cousin's threat and hugged him back tightly. "Oh please, you're probably going to tell Tenten later anyway!" He let out something like a chuckle and pulled back, letting his arms drop back to his sides.

Naruto wrapped his arm around my shoulders then and pulled me to him. I hadn't even noticed that he'd taken the few steps to meet up with us. "Touch her and I'll kill _you_, Neji." I shook my head and buried my face into his chest, not feeling the least bit worried at his semi-threat, because he was giving Neji a smirk that said that he knew Neji wouldn't dare anymore. Neji gave him a mere eye-roll but I could've sworn I saw a smile tugging at his lips.

For once, I felt entirely at peace having both my overprotective cousin and my boyfriend in one room. Naruto grinned back at him easily and we all made our way into the living room, where we saw Ino curled up on the sofa with Kiba, his arm around her shoulders and her head resting on his chest comfortably.

When we walked in, her gaze shifted upward to look at us briefly and then shifted back down to look at her lap. Something about the way she looked at us put me on emotional alert. She played with her fingers a bit, twiddling her thumbs and folding and unfolding her hands as she leaned back on him. Ino _never_ played with her fingers; it was just something I had thought she wasn't capable of because of her bold attitude. If she was nervous or angered, she'd tell you and express it without caring what the consequences would be. I frowned as I looked at her. Her face was nonchalant; a little _too_ nonchalant, as if she were trying to hide something.

Something was definitely wrong with her.

I took a seat next to her purposefully, and whispered in a voice so low that only she could hear, "Is everything okay?" She didn't look at me, but nodded once, solemnly. "That wasn't too convincing," I whispered to her softly. She let out a small, sort of sad laugh and shook her head slightly. I raised my eyebrow at her, something I hardly ever did, and said, in a normal voice this time, "Ino can I talk to you in the kitchen for a second?" She gave me a short, courteous nod that automatically set me on end and pulled her out into the kitchen with me.

As soon as she closed the door behind her, and turned to face me, I raised an eyebrow at her. "What's going on?" She raised an eyebrow at me, pretending to look confused, but I could easily see through all of that and could spot the not-so-hidden solemnity in her eyes. Her face was particularly sober and pale this night, which was the exact opposite of the Ino we all knew and loved. Ino was never so serious, so grave, so somber. No, but rather the life of just about anything. If Ino wasn't there, the laughter always died quickly and the conversations usually went awry and turned downright awkward after a while if there was a large group to control.

So to see this cheerful person just utterly emptied of hope and void of all emotion other than a mediocre version of her actual ditzy-ness and a poorly hidden sadness escaping through her eyes showed that obviously _something_ was skittering around through her head and planting thoughts and images in her brain that made her look on the verge of leaving us all in loneliness, as Sasuke had done. "What are you talking about," she said, pretending to act as if nothing was wrong and she was actually confused. "Oh come now, Ino, I can easily see past that fake mask that you're putting on. It shows straight through your eyes and like _shouts_ at anyone who looks at you for the first time after a while."

She blinked and then lowered her gaze. "So it's that obvious?" I nodded at her and she let out a heavy sigh. "Damn…" Her gaze was troubled and her face made it look like she'd cried out all her tears and was water-free at the moment. She shook her head and looked up at me. I raised an eyebrow. "Want to tell me what's wrong?" Her teeth poked a hole in her lip and forced some blood out before she shook her head, sighed again, and said "I'm just scared about who's going to die."

I was entirely taken aback by her answer. I raised an eyebrow at her and narrowed my eyes slightly. "I could've sworn Kiba talked to you about all of this earlier." Her eyes widened in slight surprise. "How did you know that," she questioned. I replied with a shrug and said simply, "Neji came in while Kiba was in mid-lecture, so I heard some of what he said." She raised an eyebrow at me, and then shook her head, a small smile gracing her lips, something that was much better seen than thought about.

"Oh Lord Hinata, you were listening way too hard," and with that she laughed out loud, an actual, genuine Ino laugh. She smiled at me when she was done, and I couldn't help but to smile back at her. My face turned serious, however, when she turned to leave the room. "Ino!" She sucked her teeth and turned back around to face me, her eyebrows furrowed and her bottom lip puckered out into a slight pout. "What?" Her voice was slightly whiney, on purpose, but her eyes showed underlying worry that I would continue to press her for information.

Her worry doubled and actually showed when I did. "Really, Ino, why are you so concerned about this? You know we're incredibly skilled at fighting we'll all be fine." Her gaze was entirely too solemn and earnest when she looked at me and said, "Are you sure, Hinata? Do you promise?" It sent chills down my spine to see such a face on such a perky blond, but I swallowed my fear and the warning signs and nodded my head. "Yes, Ino, I'm absolutely positive."

Her face remained solemn as she said, "HIV positive?"

I felt bewildered, entirely confused after that comment. "Eh, what?"

"HIV positive?"

I shook my head and let out a small giggle, finally getting what she meant. "Oh Ino, only you would come up with something that utterly crazy." She smiled back, a true Ino smile, and then giggled a bit with me.

The last bits of worry faded from her gaze, leaving me with a sort of relief that flooded through my veins like the polar ice-caps would eventually melt and flood the world when nobody bothered trying to help clean up and recycle. Her warm, friendly, familiar smile was like a warm cup of milk right before bed; relaxing and soothing, as well as sweet.

"Thanks, Hinata."

I blinked, confused. "Eh, for?"

Her smile broadened and turned even more Ino-ish. "For caring!"

I blinked again and then gave her the brightest smile I'm sure I've ever given to anyone. "No problem; it's my job, Ino. You can come to me for anything." She nodded at me and gave me a quick, slightly breathtaking hug, and then pulled me back out into the living room. Kiba lifted his head at the sound of the door opening and, at the sight of Ino, opened up his arms to invite him back into his embrace.

She happily let me go and sat down next to him, leaning her head against his chest comfortably. They looked so cute like that, all comfortable and in love. It made me smile slightly, a sweet little upward quirk of the lips.

Naruto, who had taken a seat on the loveseat, stood up and wrapped his arms around my midsection, planting a light kiss on my cheek and leaning his cheek against my head. I leaned back against him and sighed. He sometimes made me feel so small and short, and although sometimes I disliked admitting it, safe, whenever he held me the way he was now. His warmth was like a shield; impenetrable and invincible and entirely invulnerable. I enjoyed being close to him like I was now. The world somehow felt right when his arms were wrapped around me, and whenever I was in his embrace, I always felt a sense of peace.

He tightened his hold on me and brought me over to the loveseat, settling me on his lap. I looked to the side and for the first time noticed Neji sitting in the one-seater. He seemed a lot more confident than he had before I had spoken with him and was currently toying around with his phone, the emotionless façade he usually wore back in place, although deep in his eyes one could see the faith in and love for Tenten.

The look in his eye made my smile broaden the slightest in sweetness. Neji was changing, was becoming a new person. And it was all because of Tenten. She had a sort of power over him that no one else had. She was melting The Neji Hyuga's ice box of a heart, and doing it in the simplest of all ways; by loving him more than she loved herself. She was changing his attitude not only toward her, but toward everyone around him. He was even being kinder to me, and that was something that was a miracle in itself.

The sound of her cheerful laugh vaguely rang through my head as I looked at Neji's eyes, seeing the love he held for her there, and had the slightest sense that that was what he was thinking about; what he missed the most about the fact that she wasn't sitting next to him right now.

Neji lifted his eyebrow at me and leaned back in his seat. "Yes," he asked questioningly, eyebrows still raised and arms crossed over his chest. I smiled and shook my head, leaning back comfortably against Naruto's chest. His hold tightened on me again just the slightest.

Neji kept his eyebrow raised for the slightest instant before he lowered it and let himself drift back into his thoughts.

_Oh, Tenten, wake up already. We miss you._

**Sakura  
**I finished wrapping up Tenten's leg and cut off the rest of the splint with a soft _snip_. I placed it aside and pinned the wrapping together to make sure it didn't fall apart. She had been shot pretty far up in the leg, almost in the muscles next to her crotch. She got shot right under the muscles that let her straddle, which was a blessing in disguise. She'd limp for a while, but she'd be okay.

The thought made me breathe a subconscious sigh of relief as I wiped sweat off my forehead with the back of my head. Now to heal the rest of her wounds.

She had a slight scratch on the back of her head that I was sure was part of the reason why she passed out. I disinfected it by pushing her hair away from it and swabbing it with an alcohol-soaked Q-tip, and blew on it to dry it off. It wasn't like I was going to wrap her entire head for a cut that was about less than an inch long (even if it did bleed out as much as it did). It wasn't that serious of a cut.

With that, everything was cleaned up, disinfected, and cleared. I pulled out a loose pair of shorts from the dresser and carefully slid them on her, being sure not to disrupt the wrap on her thigh. I then dipped a clean, white cloth in a bowl of clean, cold water and brought it across her face, wiping her forehead and down her nose, around her mouth, over her lips, her chin, and her neck. I then dipped it in the bowl of water again, wrung it out a bit, and brought it gently over her eyes.

They slowly, easily opened as she let out a small breath and took in a fresh one. She blinked a few times to focus them, tears coming out as a result of her eyes opening to the harsh light of the room. She narrowed her eyes and made a little moan of annoyance, lifting an arm to her forehead. She looked over at me and blinked again. "Where's Neji?" I smiled softly at her words and lifted up a finger. "Give me a second."

That being said, I walked out of the bedroom and to the foot of the stairs. "Neji!" He appeared at the foot of the stairs on the first floor and raised an eyebrow. "Yes," he questioned. I smiled and replied easily with, "Someone's waiting for you."

He smiled, actually smiled, and made his way up the stairs as I turned and headed back into the room. "He'll be here in about three seconds," I said to Tenten as I sat down in the chair next to her bed. She didn't smile and hadn't removed her arm from her forehead. When Neji walked in though and leaned against the doorframe, the story changed entirely. It was like she had a sixth sense for him. She didn't need to glance at the doorway to know it was him and I was sure she didn't need the warning I gave her before he came in to know that it was him.

She tried to sit up when he walked in and when she couldn't from the pain in her leg, I helped her up and propped her up against some pillows. She smiled at me in thanks and signaled Neji over. He walked over slowly, a smile obviously threatening to break onto his face, and then guilt taking over entirely.

I frowned in curiosity as I wondered why before it all clicked.

He thought he was gonna lose her again, and he felt bad about it because they'd been fighting right before she'd gone running. If they hadn't been fighting, she wouldn't have run off; she wouldn't be in this state. The pain in his eyes radiated across his face, although the full impact was in those eyes; those silver Hyuga eyes that were his trademark.

She beckoned him forward as her face fell serious. He seemed just about ready to cry and did something Neji Hyuga rarely did.

He gulped.

But he stepped forward nonetheless, ready to face his punishment. He seemed ready for the worst, although it was obvious that whatever it was, it was going to hurt him a lot. When he reached her, she beckoned him to lean closer to her. He nervously put his arms on either side of her and leaned in toward her.

His frown turned worried and his guilt looked like it multiplied tenfold from where I was standing…er…sitting. He was waiting for his impending doom.

However, without saying a word, Tenten wrapped her arms around his neck as tightly as she could in her weak condition and planted a sweet kiss on his cheek that made me smile to myself. That was my cue to get up and leave. I walked out of the room and closed the door behind me without taking a glance back.

**Tenten  
**He was so warm, and alive, and wonderful, and everything that was Neji. He was muscular and safe and comforting and everything I'd ever wanted in this lifetime. Sakura got up and left, closing the door silently behind her as he sat down next to me. I kissed him on the cheek again, this time letting my lips linger there as he carefully wrapped his own arms around me.

I pulled away from his cheek and rested my cheek on his shoulder. "I love you Neji. Always." My thoughts briefly flashed to that of the sweet Ami and the veil realm.

_"Yeah; you see just how much he loves you in those eyes. You don't know it, but that's where he shows his heart to you, and that's what captures you; his heart."_

I smiled into his shoulder, clutching at his shirt as I felt a few tears wetting the sleeve of my shirt.

_"Okay, so the girls and Neji are all here, but why are the girls so indirect and Neji so boldly out there?"_

_"Because even though you still might not know it, Neji's love for you is worth more to you than anything else in this world."_

I pulled him in tighter as he cried, comforted by his warmth and his love. I kissed the side of his head, comforting him as much as his mere presence comforted me. "I love you with all my heart Neji. Nothing can ever change that."

Neji wasn't one of those guys that screamed and sobbed when they actually did cry. He was a silent guy, and the only way one could tell is if they saw the tears. He hardly spoke, so his voice hardly cracked, and he was so stoic one would think he'd never cry in the first place. But I knew my Neji.

I could feel his anguish and his guilt, and at the moment all I wanted to do was comfort him. He tightened his hold on me and pulled away slightly to bring his lips to mine. I smiled at the warmth of his lips on mine, feeling him become a part of me. I couldn't tell where I started and where he ended. The oneness of the kiss had me reeling and smiling as his tears of guilt flowed.

There was comfort in his embrace, and even more in our kisses, and I could feel his guilt turning into sweet relief. He was happy I was still breathing.

Hell, I was happy I was still breathing. Being in the veil realm had shown me how much I had to be thankful for. Thinking about it made me tighten my grip on him again and pulled him closer, deeper into the kiss. His tongue slowly came into contact with mine and the world melted away.

Life was a privilege, and in some cases a right, but in most it was easily taken without the person having a chance to tie up loose ends and say goodbye.

No one was ever ready to die, but the time came sooner or later. And right there in Neji's arms, I felt so grateful that I'd been given another chance.

But just then a thought occurred to me, one that had my heart breaking in two from the pain. I pulled away from the kiss, feeling a sort of hollowness from it, and asked, "Where's Kankuro?" I felt Neji release a sort of sigh and then give me a serious look. "Tenten…" He seemed to bite his tongue for a second and looked as if he were trying to choose his words carefully. That set me on high alert. "Neji! Where is Kankuro?" It came out dangerous, hysterical, and worried, and it immediately put him on edge. He frowned and pushed me back against the pillows.

I hadn't even realized I'd sat up all the way on my own.

"Calm down, Tenten." The way he was telling me to calm down put me more on end, and made me wrap my hands around his wrists, ignoring the tingles it sent through me. "Neji! Where's Kankuro?"

He averted his gaze and then let out a long, suffering sigh. "Tenten…he went after Zaku…to go kill him."

My blood pressure went up a thousand fold and my adrenaline began pouring out. "He did _what!"_ I felt myself sit up that time, and felt Neji gently but firmly push me back down. "Calm down!"

But I couldn't calm down. My world had just been thrown into chaos. "Neji!" I put a hand to my forehead, feeling weaker than I had when I'd first woke up and felt my lip quiver.

Kankuro was in danger. My big brother figure was in danger. I might not love Kankuro in the way he loved me, but I loved him nonetheless. "Go! Go get him! Bring him back before he gets hurt!" Neji narrowed his eyes in worry as he looked down at me. "But what about you, Tenten?"

I shook my head. "I'll be fine! Sakura healed me! Get Sakurambo, Temari, Sakura, and Karin to go with you! Go help him!" He gave me another worried glance and planted a kiss on my cheek before getting up. "But-."

"GO!"

He gave me one last look before he was out the door.

So much to be grateful for, and so much to be worried for.

xXOXx

He made his way down the stairs quickly, feeling a sense of urgency from the sound of Tenten's hysterical voice echoing in his head. He saw the confused looks he received at the look he had on his face and pointed to Sakura, Sakurambo, and Karin. "You three, come with me!"

They all looked at him as if he were crazy before understanding flashed in Sakurambo's eyes. "Oh my gangster, that's right! Kankuro left! Twin, get up! C'mon Karin, c'mon Temari, we've got to go help him!" Sakura and Karin were up in a heartbeat, grabbing their guns out of the drawers in the coffee table and strapping on their weaponry pouches, which they'd thrown onto the end table when they'd first walked in.

Temari was the first one out the door and in her Porsche, followed closely by Neji and the other three girls. They piled into the car easily, with Neji in the front seat, gun fully loaded and knife strapped to his own thigh. He was set and ready to fight.

The look on her face had been enough to convince him. The only hesitation he'd felt had been because of how scared he was to leave her. What if she died while he wasn't there? Without a chance to say goodbye? But she'd convinced him; Sakura had healed her and she'd be fine.

She was so sweet to him, always caring about others even when she was in pain, and hurt, and so close to death herself.

She was the reason he fought; his reason for being.

He was changing and he knew it, but at the moment Neji didn't care about his personality. He cared about doing what his love wanted him to do and going out and saving someone that was dear to her. He didn't care at the moment that Kankuro was a thorn in his side and had annoyed him and flirted with his girlfriend. What he cared about was making Tenten happy.

Temari revved the car and pulled out of the driveway and down the street like a NASCAR driver. He disregarded the speed, feeling it was to their advantage, and felt the breeze come in through the slightly rolled down windows. Despite the speed they were going, the car was entirely silent and drove over potholes smoothly.

The quality of a classy car.

The thought vaguely drifted through his mind as, five minutes after pulling out of the driveway back home, they pulled into the back alley of Orochimaru's hideout, noting how the door was parted slightly. The graffiti seemed to glow under the one streetlamp in the alley. Temari made sure to park away from it, just barely in the shadows. They exited the car silently and made sure to not make a sound as they closed the door lightly.

They silently made their way over to the door and pushed it open lightly. Neji's heart dropped to his feet for a second as he took in the sight before him. His eyes widened the slightest in amazement. The sight before him was incredulous, and it amazed him that someone who seemed so weak had done all of this. A blood spatter on the wall danced in the corner of his vision.

Without saying a word, he stepped forward into the room full of bloody, dead bodies, the four girls trailing behind him.

* * *

_Sorry for taking so long you guys :( Hope you enjoyed it though!  
Thanks to all who read and review please! :)_


	31. Battlefield

**Chapter Thirty-One  
Battlefield**

_What you don't understand is,_  
_I'd catch a grenade for ya,_  
_Throw my hand on a blade for ya_  
_I'd jump in front of a train for ya._  
_You know I'd do anything for ya_

_Oh, I would go through all this pain._  
_Take a bullet straight through my brain_  
_Yes I would die for ya, baby_  
_But you won't do the same. – Bruno Mars; Grenade_

**Battlefield**

They stepped around the dead bodies carefully, being sure to not trespass on any pools of blood so as to not leave their marks on the ground when they walked. All the while, their eyes widened at the hideous sight before them.

He felt his stomach tighten into a knot, and his mind was too busy to focus on any one thing in the room because it was too raveled around one single thought:

_Kankuro did all of this?_

The thought fluttered through his mind, touching every part of his brain in a second and then racing around a second time, a third time, a fourth time.

_Kankuro did all of this?_

_Kankuro did all of this?_

_Kankuro did all of this?_

He shook his head slightly in disbelief, and then pulled back the safety on his gun, something he should've done, he realized, before he actually entered. The small _click_ snapped him out of his slight reverie, although he did look at Temari questioningly. A slightly cocky smile graced her features, giving it that Temari edge that she usually wore. "And you thought my brother was weak. Tch." Neji didn't have to keep looking at her to know that her cocky smile had broadened into a cocky, proud grin.

He crouched down next to a particularly beaten looking body. The jaw was broken, the pale, colorless throat bruised. One arm was bent weirdly at the elbow, beyond hyperextension and into the world of nasty breaks. Neji placed the barrel of his gun the corpse's cheek and twisted his face to the other side. The bruising trailed from the throat to the side of the neck, thinning out into the shape of an angry thumb.

His gaze lifted to scan the room. Another guard appeared to have a fractured skull. Neji got up and walked over to him, crouching down and turning his head the same way he'd done to the last guy. The head was caved in and Neji could easily see that he died of hemorrhaging caused by blunt force trauma. He winced slightly. He could only imagine the things Kankuro could have possibly done to the guy to kill him in such a way.

Neji stood and looked toward the darker side of the room, where the little window's soft glow of streetlamp light couldn't reach. He stepped over dead body after dead body, fingering the trigger on his gun, arm tensed in case he had to shoot it on a moment's notice. He signaled the other girls to follow him. Temari silently slid her fan out of its holster and held it closed in front of her. She said softly, in a voice barely audible, "Let me go ahead. My fan can deflect any bullets."

He nodded and stepped aside to allow her room to maneuver. She carefully pushed the door open, and he could feel everyone's relief when the door didn't creak. He could hear Sakura trying to silently pull on her gloves. That sure as hell meant that they should be prepared for all sorts of danger.

Temari stepped into the room out in front of him, her feet barely making a sound on the metal floor. She turned her head side to side slowly, scanning the room three times over, and signaled them to enter. Once inside Neji scanned the room himself, spotting dead bodies in dark corners, giving the whole place the feel of a haunted house on Halloween.

He fought back, for the first time in years, an actual shudder, and felt the chill creep down his spine, making the hair on his arms stand on end. They all stepped forward quietly, not daring to make a sound; just in case someone went near the room. It was dead quiet, and for once, the silence gave Neji a sense of discomfort, of disquietude. He usually basked in the loneliness and reveled in the silence, and at the moment, he was absolutely terrified. He and these four girls were all alone in this silent, abandoned building full of mutilated dead bodies, a psychopath, a murderous teenage boy running off of rage and bloodlust, a few dozen guards, and the one target that started the whole ordeal by trying to execute the murder of a girl that was respected and loved so much.

That thought cleared all fear and within him arose a strong anger. It threatened to knock him over, like a strong tidal wave against a young child. He fought it down for the time being and frowned out into the darkness in front of him. The group moved slowly through the room, over to the next door and into the following room, both hands clutching their guns, and ready for anything.

All they found was another mass of injured body guards.

Neji fought down the strangest urge to twitch and wince at once. _Kankuro did all of this? _ran through his mind again as he carefully and quietly stepped over the dead bodies and pools of blood. He couldn't afford to have someone come in and be able to follow their footprints.

The next door they stepped through led them out into a long hallway, one that he remembered all too well. The first time he'd been in here, Tenten had gotten shot in the chest. The last time, he had almost died himself. He narrowed his eyes cautiously, preparing himself. Bad things always happened in this place, situations that usually almost killed or succeeded in killing someone. Needless to say that the place was no good. He was aware that the vicinity was entirely too dangerous for any person.

He pondered, for a mere second, if that made him slightly more than insane. He decided, no it didn't; just slightly more reckless than the average gang leader.

Whatever.

When they stepped further into the hallway, they were caught entirely off guard.

They had made it into the front part of the building. He recognized this part easily; the fluorescent lights were buzzing up above them, casting an eerily white glow on the white tiled floor and white painted wall. They frowned against the sudden brightness of the light but didn't take their hands off their guns as they made their way to the slowly ascending hallway.

The building was built oddly; rather than with stairs, each right turn took you up onto a higher level of the building, somewhat like in a parking garage. They ascended up each and every level quietly, not making a single sound.

Both Neji and the group of girls were shocked at all the dead bodies of guards they found on the floor. It shocked him to the ends of the earth that Kankuro, who had seemed so weak back when they were arguing, had done all of this; had killed so many all because of one seriously twisted teenager. He could only fight down shudders as to what Kankuro could've done to him had he enraged him enough.

Imagine, _the_ Neji Hyuga, fearless leader of Akuri Kaze, fighting down shudders over a kid he had highly underestimated.

He shook the thoughts out of his head and led the girls up to the next floor. They were met with only more dead bodies and bloody tiles. From his peripheral vision, he could see Temari shaking her head. "I knew Kankuro was able, but I never knew he was _this_ able," she whispered quietly. Neji shrugged off her comment, not letting it affect him any more than all of the bodies were.

They stepped out into the hall and up onto the next floor, looking all ways. There was nothing but more bodies. Neji was growing impatient; he hadn't seen nor heard a single trace of Kankuro as of yet. He did not like to be kept waiting. He glared out at the bright hallway before him as they continued stepping over the dead bodies.

Then came the sound.

It was an awkward little "_tap_" combined with an odd "_shf_" sound, like someone taking a knife out of their sleeve and throwing it at thick wood, only softer and backwards. They all narrowed their eyes in suspicion, immediately on the alert.

They had all been dead silent with their movements, not making a single sound or hinting at any moment that they were there. The sound came from somewhere in front of them. They were just at the beginning of another hallway. Neji frowned and held his gun out in front of him in anticipation. The sound came again, almost immediately after the first time.

It was coming from the next hallway.

He signaled to the girls to take cover behind the last wall in the hallway they'd just exited as the sound came again, and again, each time louder and therefore closer to them. When the girls all retreated behind the wall, Neji silently put his back to it himself and cast his head to the side. He held his gun with both hands but pointed it down between his feet. He peeked around the edge of the wall and saw a very handsomely dressed man fixing a pair of round, rimless glasses. He wore a smirk as if it were a normal part of his face, like his eyes or nose. The light reflected off of the lenses of his glasses as he let out an amused chuckle. "Come on now, friends. I know you're here. You might fool the ears easily but you cannot fool eyes. If you can be seen, you will be seen. So why not come out and play?"

Neji looked the man down from head to toe and found out that the source of the noise was his shoes and gray slacks. He tightened his hold on his gun as the man pulled out his own, bowing his head slightly. "Come now, friends; I don't have all night. The security of this place is all based on me, so if we can get this over with fast, I'd appreciate it. So come now, friends. Come to Kabuto."

Neji looked to the other side and nodded his head toward the hall at Temari, who smirked and slowly, silently, slipped her large fan out of its holster. She slowly opened it and stepped out into the hallway, her smirk extending as she caught sight of the man. "Hello there, Kabuto. I hope you weren't expecting much. It's just me, friend." The last word was dripped with heavy sarcasm; Neji would know, he was a King at it.

He heard the supposed Kabuto chuckle softly. "Oh, such a shame. You think I'm stupid don't you? I work the security of this building; surveillance caught you on tape. Where are the other four?" Temari put on a clueless face. "What are you talking about? It was just me the whole time. You have to remember that there are corpses all over this place. My brother certainly has a way with his hands." She smiled at him, a smile that seemed as kind as it was fake.

"Anyway, you wanted me to come out and play. You wanted to get this over with. So let's do this." She held her giant fan up behind her and raised a slender blond eyebrow at him. "Well?"

His responding smirk was cocky and overenthusiastic. "Okay, just remember, you got yourself into this by setting foot in this building." Temari smirked right back, and Neji could feel the danger behind that smirk. Kabuto pulled back the safety on his gun and the soft _click_ echoed through the silence of the hallway. He lifted the gun to point directly at her chest. "Here we go," he said, his smirk broadening, and becoming more sadistic.

"Goodnight, princess."

The gun went off with a loud **bang.**

The bullet bounced off of Temari's fan and straight back at Kabuto, who threw himself down behind a body to cover himself. He looked up at her, and smiled. "Oh, I see how this goes," he said. "You use that thing of yours to deflect my bullets until I run out, and then you come and get me with physical contact."

Temari put on a mock sad face. "Oh, poo! You've figured out my _whole_ strategy. That's no fun," she said teasingly, transforming her voice from her honey melody to that of a four year old. Kabuto raised the gun back and aimed it at her midsection. "But don't worry, I'll kill you before you can completely carry out your strategy. And then I'll get your friends."

At this, Temari smirked once again.

"And what if we get you first?"

That was their cue. Neji, Karin, Sakurambo, and Sakura all popped out and shot straight at him. The silver haired man had no time to react as the four bullets zoomed right into him. He let out a harsh scream of pain as one buried itself deep into each limb he had. Temari's smirk broadened.

"Goodnight, officer."

With that, she swung the fan, changing the pressure in the room. The result was him being lifted up and slammed against the metal wall.

The sickening sound of his back breaking resounded through the hallway with a loud _crack _before his mangled, bloody body fell to the floor.

Temari bit her thumb, and smiled.

**Tenten**  
The moon is so silver.

It's like a spoon reflecting white lights in a bathroom; catching other things' shine, combining it, and making it into something better. All the light would then shine out behind it and all over the place and cast a sort of magical glow over the night.

It reminded me so much of Neji's eyes that I found it impossible to not worry about him.

Here I was all sewn up in my inner thigh, sitting in a bed staring at the moon while he was out risking his life to save someone he didn't even like, all for me. It made me feel so useless and frustrated.

I was always the one that took care of everyone, not because I was forced to, but because I disliked being useless and always enjoyed helping others. I _hated_ not being able to do anything, especially at times like these, when my help was needed the most.

The thought made me grab a pillow and throw it with all my might against the opposite wall in frustration. It made a soft "Pff" sound and flopped over before it landed on the carpet. I simply stared at it. It was a plain pillow with an even plainer white pillowcase. Now picture how _that_ drove me insane. It reminded me of Neji's eyes; so silvery white in the moonlight.

There was no other lighting in the room other than the moonlight coming in the window. The curtains were spread nice and wide so that when the sun came up, all of the natural light would pour in. I shook my head, shutting my eyes tight. "Get out of my head, Neji. I have to focus on what's going on _here_, not over there."

But physically yelling at myself didn't help at all. As a matter of fact, it seemed like saying his name out loud was a taboo. I ended up looking around to see if he was in the room and caught myself staring up at the moon again. Then I caught myself slapping my forehead and dragging my hand down my face. "Damn it, Tenten!"

Being in this room with the window opened so wide was driving me insane. I ground my teeth together and let out a rather loud whine.

_If only I could walk without it hurting so bad._

Another loud, helpless whine. My lips unintentionally sunk into a deep pout and my arms folded across my chest. "This isn't fair! I need to be able to get out of here! I'm gonna go stir crazy! How am I supposed to shower? How am I supposed to brush my teeth? How is anyone supposed to hear me?" And then the absolute _worst_ thought popped into my head at that moment.

"How am I supposed to _pee_?"

The horror of me having to pee and not being able to get up scrambled through my brain, messing with my head and threatening to drive me insane. I let out a loud scream.

"Inoooooooooooooo!"

There was a loud pounding, getting steadily and rapidly nearer until the door to the bedroom slammed open. Ino's gun was out and ready and she pointed it to the window, cold blue eyes scanning the room. "Who's here?" I blinked at her as she looked at me, eyes crude and analytical, assessing me for any damage (other than the damage that Sakura had repaired already). I shook my head at her. "No one's here, Ino." She lowered her gun and put a hand on her hip. "So then why the hell did you scream so loud?"

I cast my gaze to the side, wondering whether I should tell her or not. "Are you hurt? Are you bleeding? Do you need anything?" I smiled at her. Unbelievably enough, she wasn't annoyed, she was checking me over to see if I needed anything. That was something Ino rarely did. "Well, I do have a question." She raised a brow at me and walked over to the bed. "And that would be?" I felt myself turn sheepish as I said, "How am I supposed to pee?"

You could practically see Ino sweatdrop. She slapped her forehead and dragged her hand down her face, similar to what I had done a few minutes ago. "Are you fucking kidding me, Ten? Of _all _the things you could've asked me, _that_'_s _what you ask?" Now she was annoyed, and thus back to the Ino I knew and loved.

"I was curious! I know I'm gonna have to pee pretty soon and I wanted to know how I'm supposed to get out of this bed and walk to the bathroom if I can't really walk." She sighed, closing her eyes for a second. When she opened them, she looked straight at me. "Then you call one of us and we take you in to pee, okay?"

I nodded. "Okay, fine with me." She nodded and sat down next to me for a second. She heaved a breath and then dropped a hand on the blanket over my leg, rubbing it softly, like a mother would a scared child. I was amazed. "Sheesh, Ino, maybe I should severely injure myself more often! I think this is the nicest you've been to me since I've known you. You're being all motherly and whatnot." She sent me a strict look, coupled with, "Don't even say that. You get fatally injured enough as it is. I swear it's a miracle you're still breathing, let alone living."

That made me wince – not because it hurt, but because it was absolutely true, especially recently. How much had I gotten hurt in the past few months just by being in Konoha? I had gotten hurt in Suna but never as bad or as much. I suppose it _was_ a miracle I was still alive. I'm positive that no normal person could've gone through what I went through in the time frame that I went through it and survived like I did. I must've been either really strong or extremely lucky to have still been able to live.

I winked at Ino and pointed at myself with my thumb. "That's because I'm a survivor." A goofy grin. She gave me a slightly amused expression with a weary smile. "Yes you are, Tenten." She stood from the bed and began toward the door to the bedroom. "Yes you are." She shut off the light and stepped out, closing the door behind her.

Five seconds later, I felt insane again, with the moon's light shining down on me so brightly. It was like Neji's love was just raining down on me from the damned thing while he was out there fighting a harsh battle to save someone he didn't even like just because of me. The simple thought of that made me feel horrible. He was risking his life because I had asked him to.

I gritted my teeth. "Damn it, Hyuga." I fisted my hands over my thighs. "Why do I love you so much?"

**Hinata**  
The house was silent, despite how many people there were inside. No doubt it was because of the triple scare that Neji, Tenten, and Kankuro had all presented in the short time since the Sunagakure gangs had arrived. Tenten had nearly been killed by her stalker, Kankuro had gone off on a rampage because of it, despite his broken heart, and Neji had gone off with two of three medical members, a girl who specialized in spying, and a righteously gifted fan-waver.

When put that way, it sounds lame and upsetting. When actually seen together in battle, it was almost magical.

I pursed my lips in thought as I turned the chocolate chip pancake I was cooking over in the pan. Some of the guys had gotten hungry and had had a small discussion on what to eat. In the end, they'd been dead set on having chocolate chip pancakes at about four thirty in the morning. They'd said, "Well it's breakfast time, why don't we have chocolate chip pancakes?" At first, I wasn't exactly sure if I could make them, because we didn't have chocolate chips. But then I discovered that cutting chocolate bars into little pieces was practically the same thing, so I actually had no problem making them. Pancakes were fun – it was like baking a cake but without an oven.

I flipped the pan over and let the pancake I had been working on flop on the stack that I'd started on the plate. It was my seventh one already. Each pancake previous to my seventh was still warm, as well as golden and fluffy. I smiled lightly to myself, thinking about how the golden pancakes somewhat reminded me of Naruto's hair.

For some odd reason, whenever I was cooking, my mind drifted to him. There must have been something about the warmth of the stove getting to my head and reminding me of the warmth of being in his arms. It was awkward how it worked, I was aware, but it seemed as though I couldn't help it. Even when I was in the most occupied of states, he would end up somewhere in the back of my mind, and I knew this was going to be problem when I began coming up with strategies for the gang to strike.

The problem with that was going to be that Tenten had just gotten seriously injured again, and this time in a part of the body that was critical for escape. The question remained; how much longer until she fully recovered, both from the injury she had just sustained and from the heart injury she'd gotten a while back? When one asked those questions, the outlook on the future was grim. Yes, Tenten was young and healthy; however she had acquired so many injuries in such a short amount of time that it was unbelievable that she was still in good condition.

"They really don't make them like her anymore," I thought out loud. Tenten was truly an amazing person: strong, independent, dependable, caring, kind, and so much more. I could just picture her being upset over the fact that she had gotten herself injured, which would go on and delay the plan by at the very least a month, because she would wait a month and say "it's go time" and actually go out and do what needed to be done. She hated feeling useless and like a burden; it was just her to try and take care of everyone. Never in her life had she liked it when other people took care of her. I guess it was just the way she was, thanks to her parents.

I flipped the next pancake onto the stack and let out a small breath, pouring in the batter and chips for the next one. _I wonder how I'm going to plan this. I have to be fully aware of Tenten's physical status in order for me to give her the specific portion of the plan that she has to undergo. _A small sigh actually left my lips, for what seemed to be the first time in hours. _The problem with that is that Tenten's going to want to jump in and try to kill Orochimaru first thing. She's hated him since God knows when. She'll be in that building blowing his brains out faster than I can speed count to three._

That was pretty fast. I could let out "one two three" in a heartbeat if needed. That was more than enough time for Tenten.

I shook my head at the thought just as the door opened. Naruto and Shikamaru stepped into the kitchen and immediately took a look at the stack of pancakes. "Hinata," Naruto began, "why did you make so many? It's only me, Shikamaru, you, Ino, Kiba, and Tenten if she can stomach it." It took me a moment to decipher what Naruto was saying until I glanced over at the stack and counted the pancakes.

"Oh! Oops." I let go of the spatula and brought my hands up to my mouth. "I guess I messed up my counting. I'm sorry! Eight pancakes for six people is just too many." I shook my head at myself and looked down. A hand fell on my shoulder. "Relax, beautiful; everybody messes up once in a while. I wouldn't call that messing up anyway, I would call it being ahead of the game and making second servings for everyone."

My gaze wandered upward to meet his sparkling blue eyes – those eyes that always seemed to be smiling at me. He winked at me, his long, dark eyelashes brushing against the smooth peach-colored skin of his cheek. That simple wink was enough to make me smile right back at him. "Relax. Okay?" I nodded once, twice, slowly, and then turned and flipped the ninth (and final) pancake onto the top of the stack.

The table had already been set with plates for everyone. I carefully went around and laid a pancake on each one, opening the butter and putting a knife in as well as conveniently placing the syrup next to it. Shikamaru was the first to sit down. He stared at his plate for what seemed like an eternity and then pushed it away lightly. I blinked, confused, as he folded his hands and placed his chin on them, closing his eyes smoothly. He just sat there then, his lids down, his hands together, his chin resting on them, elbows on the table. From the corner of my eye, I could vaguely see Naruto scratching his head.

"Uh, Shikamaru…Dude what are you doing?"

"Shh, shut up."

That was more than enough for Naruto to zip his lips. I shrugged lightly and gave Naruto a small kiss on the cheek. "Sit down and eat, I'm going to bring Tenten her pancake." I picked up Tenten's plate, fork, and knife and carefully made my way into the living room, signaling to Kiba and Ino (who were suspiciously curled up together on the couch) to go to the kitchen and eat. I made my way up the stairs, being sure to point the fork and knife down so I wouldn't hurt myself, and into the room that Tenten was currently laying in.

She visibly jumped when I walked in, and turned her head to face me, tearing her gaze away from the silvery moon that was visible through the open blinds of the window. "I brought you a pancake." The words were sort of whispered out to her, not really meaning to. She blinked a couple of times and then nodded, pointing to the end table by her side of the bed. Carefully, I laid the plate down and placed the fork and knife next to it. "What do you want to drink?" She shrugged. "Anything."

He gaze shifted back over to the moon, her eyes fogging over almost immediately, as if she'd just been thrown into the deepest of her thoughts. "Ten-chan?"

"Hm?" She didn't shift her gaze in the slightest this time, although she seemed entirely aware of the fact that I was talking to her. "Are you okay?" She let out a sigh; a small sigh that seemed to blow out exasperation and anxiety all at once. "To be honest, Hina, no I'm not. I'm not okay at all." I sat down on the edge of her bed and placed my hands on my knees. "What's wrong, Ten?" She shrugged, and this time she did turn her head to look at me again. Her eyes held a scary sadness in them, seeming haunted. It gave her face a look of gauntness that was so uncharacteristic of her. Her cheeks usually seemed tan and plump, not thin and bony. With that same, haunted, perfectly straight face, she barely whispered out, "I think I'm going crazy, Hina."

Her eyes bore into mine, making me rock back and forth a bit to try and find a more comfortable position. The haunted look on her face only seemed to intensify with the way the moon lit up half of her face. "Oh don't be silly, Ten," I started off softly, "You're perfectly fine." She gave me a chilling smile. "Fine doesn't necessarily mean mentally stable, now does it, Hina?"

I admit, that scared me, sending a ticklish chill down my spine. "Tenten, relax. Why do you think you're going crazy?" She laughed a bit, a small, weak imitation of the cute and happy laughter she usually exhibited. Her hand shot up, index finger out and pointing to the moon. "That," she said. "That's what's got me going absolutely psycho." I blinked a second, befuddled by her actions. "Ten-chan, relax. Remember, I don't know this story. Can you please explain to my why you think the moon is driving you crazy?"

Another sigh. More anxiety and exasperation. "Because Hina," she started off. "Because."

"Because?"

"Because that fucking moon is reminding me too much of your fucking cousin, and it makes me feel worried to the point of almost being sick. I feel fucking awful. He's out there risking his fucking life to bring back someone he doesn't even like just because I fucking asked him to. Meanwhile, I'm laying here with a damn fucking bullet wound, motionless, unable to walk or do shit to help him and the people that went with him out!" I winced at the volume that she had been talking at. She hadn't been yelling, but it was still loud relative to the silence of the conversation that we'd been having.

She seemed to have noticed it, and said, in a much softer and lower tone, "I'm sorry Hina. It's just driving me insane." I nodded. "I can tell." She grinned slightly at my response before letting that depressed face overtake her features again. "I feel so bad for him. I cause him so much pain."

"Just as he causes you pain, Tenten. Trust me, Neji-nii isn't the type to do something for someone, be it getting the TV remote or killing off an enemy. If he does do it, it's because he truly cares about you. Think about that, Ten-chan. Neji loves you more than anyone on this planet; if he's doing this for you, it's because he wants to help you." A sigh escaped her once again. Her chocolate eyes met mine for a minute, holding my gaze for a minute, before she glanced downward. "That's the part that drives me to insanity. I can't understand why someone would actually want to help _me_ of all people."

Her statement shocked me for a moment; my brow furrowed into a frown automatically at those words. "Ten-chan, what are you talking about? You're a highly loveable person; there are at least seven people that will do anything for you." A sarcastic look. "Really? Who?" I raised my two hands and counted them off on my fingers. "Me, Sakura, Sakurambo, Ino, Karin, Temari, and Neji. At _least_." It didn't convince her. "Alright, but _why_ would you all help me, of all people, so easily? I don't understand that."

I shook my head. "Tenten, you've done so much for us already. It's only right that we look out for each other – you're like a sister to me. You're an amazing friend. You brought Nii-san happiness for the first time in eleven years. Before that, he was purely an ice-cube who maintained a cool distance from everyone around him, no matter how long he'd been friends with them. He was a quietly violent ticking time bomb before he met you. You're the only one that was able to diffuse that bomb. You always look out for others before yourself – you'd die just to make sure that everyone in Konoha has their rights and freedom, hence the reason you want to defeat Orochimaru. You're an extremely sweet person, despite your tough exterior. You're a strong person, and that's why it's so hard for you to come to terms with the fact that there are people in this world that truly love you and are willing to go to great lengths to help you out and make you feel the happiness that you make others feel on a daily basis."

The room was silent for a while. It wasn't one of those awkward silences though, it was a contemplative one. It was obvious that Tenten was mulling over the words, processing them, letting them fully sink in. Her lips was pursed, her eyebrows drawn close together, her chin resting on her fist, which was resting on her strong leg.

Finally, she smiled softly. "I see."

**Temari**  
He wasn't dead, not yet – but if he wasn't paralyzed for life, it was truly a miracle. He had four bullets, one in each limb, and a broken vertebral column. He was going to need tons of medical attention before he was able to do anything. He was obviously in pain; he was doing nothing but laying on the ground, trying to scream his lungs out. He was so weak, however, that the only sound that came out was a hoarse whisper from the bloody mass that was his body.

My grin broadened slightly. Kabuto was the main medic within Orochimaru's circle and he obviously couldn't heal himself at the moment. He couldn't even move. "Well then, shall we get moving?" I turned to look back at Neji, Karin, Sakura, and Sakurambo over my shoulder. They nodded at me, catching sight of my grin. I raised a hand and led them further into the depths of the horrid place, taking a quick right turn onto the next landing. The ceilings of the place were awkwardly low because of the architecture of the place. It was high enough for a person of average height to walk straight, however if one was more than seven and a half feet tall, they were going to run into a few problems.

From then on, it was quiet all over again – as dead silent as the guards that Kankuro had killed.

_Gangster, I can only picture what he plans on doing to Zaku. If he's done this much damage to guards who probably didn't even know what Zaku did, I can only picture the way Zaku's body would look should anybody ever find it again._ The thought made a slight shiver crawl down my back. It didn't physically move me, but I did feel the chill. _I hope we find this kid soon._

The next hallway was empty, free of all guards except for the mangled bodies of more dead ones on the floor. The cameras here had been smashed and were thus not functioning. _No wonder Kabuto came to get us before we got to this floor. He knew once we hit this one, he wouldn't be able to get a hold of our location in the building before it was too late._

I kind of smiled at that. The idea of us being able to get Kabuto and take him down before he even knew what hit him was twice as pleasing as the memory of what we'd just done to him. So maybe I enjoyed the pain of my enemies; so what? I'm absolutely positive that their feelings were mutual, if not stronger, hence the reason they went to such great lengths to try and get rid of us.

We carefully stepped over every dead body in the hall and ascended up to the next floor. Another mass of bodies, and even more silence. The first one we caught sight of was bleeding from the mouth down his chin, an eye taken out of its socket. "He's getting angrier," I said in a voice barely above a whisper. I felt everyone behind me nod. "Your brother's got a temper from hell, Temari." _Heh, well no shit, Hyuga? Kankuro's nothing compared to Gaara though._

I didn't voice my thoughts aloud – it would've probably been enough to scare Neji halfway to his grave.

Again, we stepped over the mangled bodies – although these were obviously twice as broken and mangled as the first ones we had seen. For some odd reason, I started to feel a cool sensation up my spine, slowly getting stronger the deeper we got into the room. _Animal magnetism._ Somebody was in this room other than me and the gang; somebody that was clearly alive.

Stepping over one of the last few bodies gave me one of the biggest mini-heart-attacks of my life. A hand reached out and grabbed a hold of my ankle as I was stepping over. It was cold and calloused, but so obviously human, and just barely alive. A small gasp escaped me, for that was all I'd let escape. Experience had taught me to never scream in situations like this, no matter how scary. It was second nature to, when caught off guard, either gasp or widen my eyes – two things that barely made noise, if any.

My gaze shot downward to look at the person who was grabbing onto my leg. There was a bullet wound in his stomach, blood staining his shirt. His hair was matted and frayed, also full of blood. My guess was that Kankuro had gotten close to shooting him in the head and the guard had managed to dodge, just barely missing it and getting clipped. If not, he wouldn't be here grabbing my ankle. His eyes were sparkling bluish-gray – like that of a wolf. Such a shame that in a few minutes, his life would end and his eyes would flatten out and gray entirely.

When he spoke, his voice was raspy and hoarse, mixed in with the wet sound of blood build-up. His words brought me to disbelief. "Please…help…me." Spaced out, exhausted, weak. He could barely speak; it was a miracle in itself that he could, let alone reach out and grab me the way he did. I raised my eyebrow at him, giving him a cold, steely gaze. "Why should I? You work for Orochimaru; you deserve as much a right to meet your maker as your boss does. Why are you so different?" His look was pleading, begging for mercy.

His lips parted slowly, and it was then that I noticed that he was bleeding from his mouth as well. I was assuming it was because of intestinal damage and internal bleeding from the bullet wound to his stomach. His voice was as much as a whisper as mine. "Because I'm alive, and I can reveal to you – agh – Orochimaru's exact plans."

At this, I gave him a sweet smile. "Your ideas are flawed, deathly one. We've known his exact plans for a while now." I snatched my foot away from his hand and safely stepped over them. "Goodnight," was all I said before I motioned the rest of the group to follow me. They were smart enough to stay clear of the man's range of motion, which wasn't really much however impressive due to his current condition.

"He'll end up defeating you." I turned to look him straight in those dying eyes. "Your words," his eyes widened a fraction, the light slowly leaving them, "mean nothing."

He died at the end of my sentence.

We stepped out onto the next level, where this time not a single corpse raised its hand. The quiet calm of the room was reassuring, despite the fact that it was full of dead bodies of people who wanted us dead. Or maybe that was what made it so calming – that all these people that had wanted us dead were dead themselves. Either way, it was calming.

There were no rude interruptions or randomly moving corpses. It was utterly silent.

At least, until we got to the twentieth floor.

The long halls there were filled with fresh blood and body guards who still weren't dead. They were obviously in deep pain and were all breathing heavily if they weren't dead yet. The live ones tried to turn their heads as we stepped onto the floor to get a good look at us, their half-closed eyes glued to our faces. I gave them all a hardy grin. "Hey there. Remember me?" I pointed at myself as their eyes widened. They might not have been able to see, but hearing was usually the last thing to go.

"Where's my brother?" Their eyes all seemed to narrow as the live guards looked in our general direction. One opened his mouth, powdery blue eyes seeming to cloud over. "He's - "

**Bang.**

His sentence ended before it started. I tensed. The group behind me did the same as well all glanced in the general direction of the sound, much like the live guards had done when we had entered. "Where the fuck is he?" Another loud **bang**. "I know he's on this floor. Where the fuck is that bitch ass?"

Loud cracks and the sound of skin coming into harsh contact with skin echoed along the walls of the otherwise quiet hideout. The guards before us let their eyes widened a fraction before they slowly settled into themselves, letting the warmth of death overtake them one by one. I barely spared them a glance as we edged forward, getting closer to the sounds of fighting and Kankuro's anger.

"Tell me where that fucking bastard is! I'm gonna punch the shit out of him until I see the lifelessness in his face. WHERE THE HELL IS HE?" His words made me wince. Kankuro wasn't lying. Not only was he mad, but Zaku had hurt the person that mattered the most in Kankuro's world. He wasn't going to be forgiven. Knowing Kankuro, he had probably been fantasizing as to what to do to specifically torture the guy into insanity. He'd probably imagined isolating him in a dark room full of water, weights attached to his arms and soundproof walls so that Zaku would forget what the world was like and slowly go insane, possibly dying because of some weird extreme psychological disorder.

Without a second thought, I began barreling down the hall.

xXOXx

The world was an angry red blur, the people faceless and identical. They were all on his side, they were all defending and protecting him. _That bastard. Wait till I get my hands on his puny little throat. He'll never see the light of day again. _He wasn't considering anything or anybody. He was simply aiming at whatever he could get his hands on until he saw the one face his eyes would recognize in his blinded anger.

"Kankuro!"

He turned and shot in the general direction of the sound, expecting to hear a deep grunt followed by a howl of pain. He was surprised, therefore, when a cool, strong wind blew him backward into a wall. His back came into contact with flat, cool metal, hard enough to knock the wind out of him but not hard enough to hurt or bruise him. He opened an eye and looked out in front of him for what felt like the first time since he'd first entered the building.

Before him stood his sister, her face contorted into anger, a thin line of red on her cheek slowly beginning to ooze blood. Her fan was opened to show one of the purple moons and out to her side. She was panting.

"What the hell are you doing, Temari?" She bit her thumb, closing her eyes in annoyance as she closed her fan and let her hand rest on it as it stood next to her. "You freaking idiot. What the hell were you thinking going off like that? Do you have any idea how worried everyone is about you?" He ground his teeth together, finally feeling the sweat on his brow.

He had had no idea he'd been fighting and moving so hard.

"I honestly don't give three fucks how worried anyone is about me. That bastard hurt Tenten – he deserves what he's going to get."

"But Tenten is worried about you, you crack-head!"

At that, he froze, dark brown eyes widening. "Tenten's…alive?" He said his thoughts out loud, tasting the words on his tongue. They sounded foreign, and yet there was a rightness in them that killed out all of the weirdness in it. He felt a smile bubbling in his chest; not a laugh, but a smile. It was threatening to break over his face, but he didn't let it. His thoughts were murky with the clouded image of Tenten bleeding in Neji's arms, of the pictures he'd imagined of Zaku trying to shoot Tenten, the one girl he loved more than life itself.

His anger was back.

He catapulted himself into the nearest room, the door falling off its hinges as he pulled his gun back up to attention. There was a little four poster bed up against the center of the wall to his left, the covers depicting some awkward design that he couldn't and didn't bother to make out as he made his way deeper into the room. There was another door leading to a separate room – one not accessible from the hallway. He kicked the door down and made his way into the room.

The room was empty.

He hissed out a curse and slipped back out into the hallway, heading for the room straight across from the one he'd just been in. He knocked down that door as well, ignoring Temari's angered shouts of "Kankuro, cut it out!" He was finding that bastard and choking him until his thumbs fell off. The bedroom was decorated almost identically to the first one. The difference was that the second door was partially opened, steam coming out.

_Gotcha._

He kicked the door in and stepped into the foggy bathroom, the steam escaping. His glare automatically intensified as he narrowed his eyes to see through the thin smoke. There was the sound of water hitting the bottom of a tub. The shower was on.

He shoved the curtains aside and peered in only to be disappointed. It was empty. The water was pouring down from the showerhead but the bastard simply wasn't there. He let out a frustrated yell and tore the shower curtains down from the bar. "This fucking bastard! Where the fuck is he?"

**Bang.**

The sound made him turn around to glance behind him.

His anger and hatred bubbled over.

There he stood, looking malicious and horrendously ugly to him. His rage burned white hot as he trailed his gaze down to the gun pointed straight out in front of the bastard. "You shot my sister!" It wasn't a question, more like an angry shout. Zaku smirked at him under his damp hair. "No. I shot _at_ her. She didn't actually get shot. You should know by now that your sister is too fast to get shot." Kankuro grit his teeth together. "I don't care whether it hit her or not, you ass! You still shot at her! And you shot Tenten! You fucking bastard!"

He raised his gun, aimed it right at Zaku's chest. His face was contorted with the rage burning within him. The world was getting hotter, redder, welts boiling all over the place – like an ugly rash. "You deserve everything you're going to get."

**Bang.**

The bulleted zoomed through the air, tearing it apart as it hurdled toward Zaku. Said person merely smirked as he dodged the bullet, still getting clipped slightly on the arm. Blood came trickling out, staining his perfectly white T-shirt. He narrowed his eyes at Kankuro. He raised his gun.

**Bang.**

Zaku's bullet was deflected by a short knife. Kankuro was too blinded by his anger to be cocky at his feat. "I'm gonna tear your limbs off one by fucking one and rip every single one of your fingers and toes out with pliers." He held the knife out in front of him. "And before I kill you, I'll make sure to circumcise your ass too." He grinned wickedly at the idea too. "And I'll make sure to do that without anesthesia."

The man before Kankuro just smirked, as if amused by the ideas himself. "Really then?" He closed his eyes for a split second and bowed his head. "Alright." He lifted his gaze to meet Kankuro's fierce eyes. "I see how this game is going to be played."

He raised his arm slowly, bringing the gun forward to align perfectly with Kankuro's head. "Don't be upset when you lose." His smirk broadened. Kankuro raised his own gun as well, keeping it level with Zaku's chest. "Quit talking reckless you trashy fuck; I never lose."

Zaku's smirk was then a smile. "You're a liar." Kankuro raised an eyebrow at his response. "What do you mean by that?" A small, cold laugh. "You're a loser, Kankuro." He narrowed his eyes. "I told you I never lose."

"You lost Tenten, didn't you?"

Kankuro's entire face changed. His expression dropped, his eyes widened. Zaku smirked back at him. He knew he'd hit a nerve. His hold on the gun tightened, as the fragmented pieces of his torn heart seemed to cry between his ribcage.

"Well then, we're in the same boat, aren't we Zaku?"

**Bang.**

* * *

_Cue the million apologies that I_ _owe you guys for taking FOREVER to get this up! I've been so busy with the usual - school and sports and homework and whatnot - that I haven't had much time to do this. I don't know what in my mind possessed me to take AP classes. Jesus help me there must be something wrong with me. Anyway, thank you to all of you guys who stuck it out and read this extremely late chapter. I appreciate it! I love you all, and you're all as beautiful to me as Sakura is to Sasuke (as creepy as that sounds) x3_

_Review please?  
_


	32. Heartbreak

**Chapter Thirty-Two**  
**Heartbreak**

_Since you went away,_  
_Hasn't been the same_  
_In my heart, all I got is pain_  
_Could it be that I play the game_  
_To lose you? I can't maintain_

_Sunlight, moonlight_  
_You lit my life_  
_Realize in the night while love shines bright_  
_Can't let you go, we were meant for forever_  
_Baby let me know – G-Dragon; BIGBANG Koe Wo Kikasete_

**Heartbreak**

White.

The world was white.

Or rather, the world was white with spatters of red everywhere – large, red blob-like spatters that painted the walls of the universe.

A young boy, about the age of sixteen, lay on the floor in a puddle of blood that was steadily growing. His breathing was ragged, coming in as sharp intakes, his voice coming out as long, pained moans. His arms lay motionless by his sides, his head seeming way too heavy as it rolled from side to side, not sure which side to stay on.

"Damn it!"

Another boy, about the same age, turned and looked at the blond who'd cursed. "I was too sloppy. I missed my mark by inches! That's fucking terrible! Tenten would be _so_ disappointed in me." She bit her thumb, her gun hanging off her forefinger as she closed her eyes from the slight pain. "Fucking little bitch, you got lucky you selfish bastard," she said to the bloody boy in front of her. He moaned in response.

The other boy merely stood there, arm outstretched, gun in hand, still level with what would've been the half-dead boy's chest. He could've sworn he'd pulled the trigger and that it had been his shot that had taken down the guy in front of him.

"Kankuro."

The boy turned to look at the blond. "Are you okay?" He nodded, only half aware of what he was doing. The blond twirled her gun around her finger once before slipping it back into its holster, closing her fan, and doing the same. She stepped over to him and put a hand on his forehead, feeling the warmth radiating as well as the sweat that was slipping down to his cheeks. "You're burning up, bro."

He didn't respond.

She sighed.

She snaked her arm around his shoulders and watched his face for a moment. He merely stared out into space, seeming to forget where he was or even that his sister was there with him. She rubbed his shoulder lightly and turned him to face her, gave him a couple light smacks in the face. "Kankuro? Big brother it's time to go now. Come on, we have to go home."

The way she spoke to him at the moment was rare. She almost never spoke in a tone so affectionate and worried to her brother. It was only in the utmost dire circumstances that she showed how much she truly cared for her older brother.

Her hands slipped down to his and she tugged lightly, beginning to walk backwards. He took a step, then another, as she slowly pulled him out toward the door. As soon as she let go, he stood motionless. "Damn it, Kankuro you fucking son of a bitch, move!" Another slap across the face, this time far more forceful than the first two.

The brunette before her took a sharp breath, head turned to the side from the force of the hit. He looked down at her, eyes wide. "Temari?" He seemed to be noticing her for the first time, despite acknowledging her presence in the vicinity less than ten minutes ago when she reported to him that Tenten was alive and well. Weak, but well.

"Yes, Kankuro. It's me. Now get your fucking ass moving before the backup gangs get here and try to kill us off." He had all but a moment to glance around before the blond pulled him out of the room and down the hall.

The whole time they were on their way out of the building, he kept a steady eye on the destruction he'd caused. The masses of bloody, beaten, dead bodies covered most of the building. _I did all of this?_ He couldn't help but to blink in astonishment.

He knew he'd been upset; shit he'd been absolutely raging fucking mad. But he had no idea of the destruction he'd caused. The deaths of these bodyguards had obviously been horrendously painful and bloody. He was positive that at least half died of ruptured organs and blood in their lungs. A shiver crept up his spine as he followed his sister through story after story of the building. _I knew I was able to kick ass when I was mad, but this is seriously fucking ridiculous. I didn't know I was capable of doing shit like this. I can't even imagine what I would've done if I hadn't found Zaku and if Temari hadn't shown up._

He winced at the mere idea. He didn't feel remorse or pity for killing off all of the guards that had been on duty that night. The way he saw it, those bastards deserved to die for serving someone like Orochi-bastard in the first place. As a matter of fact, he was quite happy that he'd been the one to do the job. What bothered him was the simple fact that he had let himself lose his cool so easily. What if he'd done that by Tenten? What if he lost control and hurt her? Would he be able to live with himself?

_No._

He'd probably realize what he'd done in the aftermath and blow his own brains out.

Another chill crept up his spine. His sister pulled him through hallway after hallway, slowly but surely easing him out of the darkness that he'd spent the last few minutes of his night in. It was crazy how she alone had been able to materialize and shoot what he'd missed.

_Wait, alone?_

"Temari."

She turned to look at him as she led him down the hall. "Hmm?" She blinked a couple of times. "What's up bro? You seem curious." She pulled him around a corner, turning her head to look in the direction they were going, despite the fact that all that had to do was make the same turn repeatedly. "I was just wondering, sis; did you come alone?"

A small laughed escaped the blond dragging him by the hand. It bounced off of the metal walls of the building where everyone lay in their own blood. The brunette she held on to raised an eyebrow. "Of course I didn't come alone," she responded. "How stupid do you think I am? I might not be as book smart as Sakura, but I'm not entirely stupid. Plus, I was _told_ to come; it's not like I came because I had a dawning realization that you just might get hurt trying to get through all the guards this place has." She gave the room they were maneuvering through a quick once over. "Although, it seems like you had absolutely _no_ problem with that."

He pushed her comment aside. "So then who are you with?" A small grin crept its way onto her face. "You'll see in a minute."

She continued dragging him down the hall, taking turn after turn so quick that all of the bodies were faceless blurs tainted by the sticky redness of their own blood. They were going at an increasingly fast pace, the blurs eventually blurring together to become an even blurrier more confusing blur. It seemed that no matter how much he blinked, nothing came into focus. They seemed to have covered so much in so little time because of their speed, yet he felt as though they were running with no place to go.

"Damn it, Temari. I'm pretty sure it's been over a minute."

The grin that she'd let fall moments ago reappeared. "Don't worry Kankuro." She continued tugging him along, slowing down her pace just as quickly as she'd sped it up. "We're here," she said when they finally stopped.

He glanced around, finally able to fully take in at least some of the damage he'd caused. He could easily tell that they were still somewhere near the center of the building, however more so toward where they'd entered. He carefully took in the blood-spattered walls and the mounds of bodies on the floor. _How many did I take out?_ He stepped away from his sister a bit to inspect a wall that seemed especially covered with blood. He brought up his hand to run his finger along the trail, thought better of it, and lowered his hand again. "What the hell did I do?"

A deep voice answered his question. "Exactly what it looks like you did, smartass."

The brunette turned to look straight into the emotionless pale grey eyes of Neji Hyuga. He felt a ghost of his rage automatically rise up within him. "It was a rhetorical question, _Hyuga_."

The long haired boy before him didn't fail to notice the way he said his name with such animosity. "I don't have time to argue and fight, Kankuro," he said. Tenten's worried sick about you, and sent us here to get you. So let's get your bloody ass back home to see her." A pang ripped through his heart. The mere mention of her name hurt so badly. He gritted his teeth out of sheer subconsciousness and took a small step toward the Hyuga directly in front of him.

_What is it with this kid?_ He glanced over the boy. _What does he have that I don't have? Is it the hair?_ He inspected as well as he could from his distance the long, dark brown hair the kid before him was so renowned for. _But his hair is so girly! Is it the body? _ He gave the guy a glance over, taking notice of the slight muscular frame. _It could be the body. But if it was just the body then she'd be going for anyone, including maybe even Zaku. What the hell could it be? Is it the eyes?_ He brought his gaze up to inspect the infamous moon-like eyes of the Hyuga family. _They look so much like Hinata's._ He scanned the boy before him, looking for any defining features that could possibly lure Tenten in. All he saw was a teenage male with long hair and white eyes.

_I don't understand. Why him over me? We're practically the same._

He took another step forward, his gaze unwavering as he looked at the kid before him. Said kid didn't take a step back, but rather raised an eyebrow in question and something that seemed mildly like challenge. Kankuro didn't go in for the kill. Instead, he spoke.

"Ironic, isn't it?"

The Hyuga before him raised his eyebrow higher, this time more questioning than anything, although the hint of challenge was still in the depths of his equally unwavering gaze. The brunette caught the question in his eyes. He continued on. "Ironic how you don't have anything particularly defining, you're almost exactly like me, I love her just as strongly if not more than you do, and yet," he paused briefly, feeling the pain swell up as he came to terms with what his next few words truly meant. "And yet," he narrowed his gaze in pain at the long-haired boy before him, "she chose you over me."

The brunette male before him did not comment on his words, nor did he relax his muscles for a moment. He remained tense, as if waiting for the boy to pounce on him and begin fighting. Kankuro merely stepped back, maintaining his gaze on him for just a few seconds more before he turned his head downward and began heading to the entrance they'd come in.

"Let's go," were his words as he trailed down the hallway. "You said she wanted to see me, right?"

He turned the corner into the next hallway, not bothering to wait to see if the rest followed him.

**Heartbreak**

**Ino  
**The house felt so quiet. It was odd now a-days to have so few people in the house. What with Neji, Sakura, Sakurambo, Karin, Temari, Sasuke, and Kankuro all gone, the only ones left in the house besides me were Tenten, Hinata, Naruto, Kiba, Lee, and Shikamaru (although Lee had been in so much pain lately that he was doped up on painkillers and asleep all of the time, so he hardly counted as a person anymore). It was a good thing that his actual operation date was approaching. It was also a good thing that the basic recovery time for the operation was two weeks and the total recovery time was six. It wasn't the shortest recovery, but hell it was shorter than most. That would prove to be useful within the next coming weeks; we need everyone we could get and we needed them at one hundred and fifty percent_. _ Hopefully he'd be back to trying to protect Sakura in no time.

_Or more likely than that, he'd probably protect Sakurambo instead of Sakura._

A small smile crept onto my face at the thought. "How cute," I half whispered to myself as I made my way from the kitchen back to the living room. The pancakes Hinata made had been unbelievably amazing, the chocolate oozing from them in every way possible, mixing with the syrup to be the sweetest pancake I'd had in my life. I'd walked into the kitchen feeling grim and stepped out feeling bubbly. Despite all of the problems that were coming down hard on everyone, what with Tenten getting injured to the point of being temporarily paralyzed from the waist down, Lee being out of commission until his surgery was over, Neji still recovering from his previous wounds from when he went to go get Sasuke, Sasuke gone, Kankuro heartbroken, and Sakura seeming to be torn to pieces, the pancake I'd just eaten had lifted my spirits.

_I'm such a weirdo._

I smiled at my slight insanity and plopped down on the sofa in front of the television, slouching my back against the couch. In all of the crazy shit that had been happening for the past couple of weeks, I had been far too distracted to keep up with the local news. I turned on the set and flipped to channel nine, catching the ends of the report being told by some chestnut-haired lady about some crazy house fire. I was the only one in the living room so far because the rest had taken the liberty of having seconds and thirds, putting poor Hinata to work.

The next few stories were on the usual, politicians giving speeches, how the economy was either going up or down, the latest research in medicine and how lipstick suddenly became a risk factor for giving you cancer. There was even the one clip on the "crazy obsession" the "teenagers of these times" had with drugs and alcohol. I shrugged at the idea. "Not me, not my problem," I said to myself.

_Talking to myself is becoming a bad habit. _I grinned at the thought.

The stories being reported seemed relatively irrelevant and made me quite glad I'd been too caught up in saving the country (and possibly the world) to waste my time watching such utter bullshit.

That is, until the next story popped up, the headlines blaring at the bottom of the screen. "In other news," the lady with chestnut hair began, "last night there were reports of shots heard down by sixth and fourteenth street, cueing action by the police. We take you to Yumi Minamoto for more."

In a moment the screen switched from the chestnut haired woman sitting at the desk with her dark haired fellows news anchor to a blond reporter who appeared to be relatively young for such a job. "Thank you, Ruka. Here at the crime scene there appears to be quite a few officers and detectives trying to piece together what exactly is going on." The camera panned out to give a full view of the officers working. "Officers say that people reported having heard shots, but having seen nothing actually happening. People who live on the streets say that it was too late at night and the one streetlamp provided was merely not enough to get a view of what was happening." The camera gave a brief view of the street light, getting in the shot an alley that seemed to be blocked off by police tape.

"Police reports also indicate that blood was found on the pavement in the alley sealed off by the tape, but that no body has actually been found anywhere. They say they've checked the trash bags and dumpsters of everyone within a two mile radius but have discovered nothing. They are suspecting foul play. They do not have any confirmation of the victim yet, however they do believe that this was an act of gang violence." She tossed back a bit of her hair as the camera came back to focus on her face. "For news channel nine, I'm Yumi Minamoto. Back to you Ruka."

The screen change once again, showing the chestnut haired woman and he co-anchor once again. "Thank you Yumi. Now coming up after a word from our sponsors, why you should stay away from using excess cologne. More on that coming after the break." The screen changed one more time to another camera panning out before a commercial for foot cream flipped on.

"Holy shit."

The words left my mouth the moment Kiba and Shikamaru stepped in. "What's wrong?" I turned my head to look at the both of them. "Dude, Tenten's story was on TV!" They both raised an eyebrow, although Kiba looked a bit more concerned than did Shikamaru. "What do you mean?"

I cleared my throat. "Well, it didn't say her name but it did say the location she was roughly shot at, since we know she was sprinting for distance but she couldn't have gotten too far cause of her heart. On top of that it described the place with the one streetlamp and the alley covered in blood, and how many times do those two things coexist in more than one place in this shithole of a city in one night?"

Kiba seemed slightly puzzled. "Alright but why would it be on the news? It's not like there's a body for them to worry about, since the reporters seem so concerned about it."

Before I could even open my mouth, Shikamaru was already off. "How troublesome. People around there probably complained about hearing something and spoke up for once. The police maybe realized that they might get a lead on something or someone and decided to finally act. Remember, they're lazy, not stupid. They're over there probably dusting for prints around the alley, checking the blood, taking samples for DNA profiling, checking a certain radial area to see if they find the body – you know, standard police procedure stuff. Am I right or am I wrong?" He raised his eyebrow at me, his gaze landing right on my face as he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, his face looking tired.

"Actually yeah, you hit the nail on the head just about. They did say that the police believed it was gang related. And they suspect foul play." Shikamaru simply nodded his head and gave Kiba a lazy glance. "See?" Kiba just shook his head and narrowed his eyes, putting a fist to his forehead lightly. "Yeah, I see it. My question is why the sudden interest from the police? They never really showed interest before."

Shikamaru sighed, seeming to be a little annoyed at the question he deemed to have such an obvious answer. "Like I said, the police probably realized that they might get a lead on something or someone. Or maybe, Orochimaru's already started issuing threats to the government and the law enforcement, including maybe even the local military." He shrugged. "We won't know unless we try and find out." He stepped over to the loveseat and lay down comfortably, legs too long for him to fit and dangling over the arm slightly. A yawn slipped out, and he put a hand to his mouth to muffle the sound.

"But, that's way too much work, so I just won't bother with it." He placed his arms behind his head, let out another small yawn, closed his eyes and was out like a light.

At least until the front door slammed open and in came Neji, Temari, Kankuro, Sakura, Sakurambo, and Karin. His eyes snapped open again, his face settling into a scowl. "Shit. They're back." An agitated sigh escaped him. "Just when I thought I'd finally get some sleep."

"Oh quit whining, you big baby," Temari called over to him as she closed the door and leaned her fan against the wall. "You'll sleep good tonight, trust me." She stepped onto the carpet into the living room so as to not trip and sat on the edge of the loveseat, looking down at his face and placing her hand on his cheek. "I'll sleep with you, so you'll be okay."

I raised an eyebrow, expecting Kankuro to turn to Temari and say something along the lines of "What the hell did you just say" since Gaara wasn't around to do it. I was absolutely shocked, therefore, when he said nothing, but rather stared down at the floor at the foot of the stairs.

I blinked lightly. "Kankuro? Are you okay?" He looked over at me, his gaze seeming only half aware that I was speaking to him. "Huh? Yeah, I'm alright." I narrowed my eyes into a frown. "Are you sure you're okay?" He merely nodded as he turned his attention back to the floor at the foot of the stairs. He stood there for about another three seconds and then began up the stairs, looking up at the landing almost as if he were not looking forward to making it up there. I turned to look at Temari for an explanation. She was already cuddled up on the couch with Shikamaru, his arm wrapped around her waist as they lay sideways to fit on the cushions and not fall off. Her eyes were shut already, so she didn't see me looking at her.

With a something just barely short of a sigh, I looked over at Sakura and mouthed, "Is he okay?" She glanced downward, running a hand along her neck for a moment and letting out a soft sigh. "He's a bit…out of it."

"Yeah, well no shit Sherlock."

At that she turned toward me, fist clenched and fire in her eyes. You could practically see the vein popping out of her temple. "You know what, you bitch pig, you don't have to get all smart assed and snotty with me!" She took a step toward me. I automatically mimicked her stance. After so many years of fighting the way we did, doing the same things when we were upset was practically a habit. "Oh yeah? Well it isn't my fault you don't know how to state anything other than the damn obvious _Billboard_ Brow!" I clenched my fist even tighter as she edged closer to me and pressed her forehead against mine.

"Really now? Maybe if you wouldn't ask questions with such obvious fucking answers you blond twit. Pig!" I could've punched her right there. "Well maybe if Temari over there wasn't all cuddled up with Shika I wouldn't have to ask _you_ all the damn questions!"

I figured; I had no comebacks, why not aim at her?

Said blond retorted with "Shut the fuck up Ino. I'm tired and you two assholes won't let me sleep with your bickering. I swear you were sisters in another life. Now take your fighting somewhere else. I want rest damn it!" At that Sakura and I melted down into laughter. "Oh, Ino she served you breakfast, lunch, _and_ dinner," she said next to me. I shook my head. "Uh, excuse me, smartass, she served us both breakfast, lunch, dinner, and _dessert_."

We melted into even more laughter. It was ridiculous that we could laugh at something so stupid, but at the moment it was what was happening. For some odd reason we found the situation so awkwardly hilarious and amusing.

Shikamaru let out a groan, although it was muffled by the fact that his face was buried in Temari's hair. "You women are so troublesome." He didn't open his eyes as he said it. As a matter of fact, right after the words were out of his mouth he appeared to fall right back asleep. My eyebrow twitched slightly at that, but I quickly got over it.

I turned back to face my pink haired best friend. "Anyway, Billboard Brow, you never told me what was wrong with Kankuro." She shook her head as a haunted look came over her face. She glanced over at Temari and then motioned me to follow her out into the kitchen. From the corner of my eye, I saw Neji look up the stairs as if he wanted to go up and was willing himself back. I raised an eyebrow in curiosity but decided not to ask.

As soon as we were in the kitchen, Sakura pulled me away from the archway that connected it to the living room. "So what's wrong with the kid?" It was the third time I'd asked that question, although not in those exact words. She gave me a long, meaningful look before she let out an actual sigh this time. "That kid is just…" She shook her head, as if struggling to find the right words. "He's going through way too much. On top of the fact that he just found out that the girl he's been madly in love with is in love with someone else, he also found out that she's known about his feelings for her for well over maybe three and a half years and still doesn't return his feelings. And on top of _that_ still, the very same night that girl gets into a fight with the guy she loves, runs off, and gets hurt, so he sets out to destroy the one who hurt her, despite knowing that she won't ever return his feelings."

I frowned a bit, lips pursed. "Just one thing, Sakura." She raised her eyebrow at me. "What is it?"

I cleared my throat again. _Shit, I think I'm coming down with something_. "What makes him so sure that she won't ever return his feelings?"

Another sigh. "You can see it in his eyes that he sees just what we see; Tenten's love for Neji is entirely unrivaled. No one can compare. She loves him more than anything. I think even more so," she brought her gaze up to meet mine, "than she loves us."

That hit hard. "You think that's true?" She nodded her head, her short bubble-gum pink hair moving around with her head. "I know it's true, actually. I can see it in her eyes, dude. She's so in love with the kid she can hardly contain it, and sometimes, it hurts her. Like when they get into fights, the reason she gets so worked up is because she cares so much. You know he can be an asshole, so he doesn't really hold back when he's arguing with her, and since she holds him so close to her heart, she takes _everything_ he says seriously."

Her gaze fell toward the floor again. "Sometimes, she lets it get the better of her and gets all impulsive and does shit she probably shouldn't. It ends up causing her trouble sometimes." She shook her head, her pink hair swishing around her face. "But in the end," she brought her gaze up to look out the windows in the back door, staring straight at the moon. "In the end, she loves him to death and he loves her, and they always make up, because their love is just that strong, so it makes everything okay again." A small smile graced her lips. I narrowed my eyes at her. That smile seemed off; it was too happy to be the Sakura that had been moping around all depressed for the last week.

The wheels in my head started turning.

She caught sight of my look and quit smiling, frowning in question. "What, what's wrong?"

I shook my head, not telling her what was on my mind, but not letting my suspicious gaze drop. "You seem questioning, Ino. What's up? Ask me." I cocked my head to the side a bit. She raised a pink eyebrow, seeming to suspect me herself. "It's just," I started off. "It sounds like you know exactly what she's going through, Sakura. _Except_," I paused. My next words were rude and I felt like such a complete bitch saying them, especially to Sakura. Despite the fact that we fought so often, she was my best friend and had been my best friend through it all. Sakurambo was practically her twin, they were practically sisters, but she was still my best friend in the end, and so was Sakurambo to a certain extent. It hurt me to say what I said next.

"Except that you and Sasuke haven't necessarily made up, now, have you?"

Her gaze fell to the floor again, looking sad. But something told me if it had been yesterday that I had said something like this she probably would've killed me and started bawling, maybe even stormed out of the house like Tenten had done today. Instead, she sat there looking at the floor, a sort of sadness that seemed played off rather than the depressed suicidalness that she'd been exhibiting all week. "Sakura?"

She glanced up at me. "What?" Her eyes were completely dry.

"You little shit, you're lying! Something happened that you're not telling me about!" She looked taken aback. "What? Ino-pig what the hell are you talking about?" I quickly put my hands into their familiar seal. "Exorcist art: mind transfer – !"

"Ino stop it!" She slapped my hands away from each other and pinned me down to the floor, having to straddle me slightly to keep me down. "What the hell are you using your jutsu on me for? I'm tired damn it! The last thing I need is you popping up in my head and zooming all over the place looking for shit that you won't find!" The way she phrased that definitely caught my attention. "Girl please, trust me I can find it! There's no place in your mind that you can hide it!"

She narrowed her emerald orbs at me. "You won't be able to find it, _smart ass_, because there is clearly nothing to find!" I furrowed my brow in slight annoyance. She was a little too worked up over it. "Really now? So then how come it seems like you've got something to hide?" She tensed for the slightest instant. It was then that I knew.

"You came into contact with him didn't you?" She glared me down like only she could. "I did not! The last time I saw the bastard we fought and I got emotional and let him slip, remember? Or did you forget already?" She was getting angrier. Angrier, but not sadder. Frustrated, but not upset. "You shouldn't have! It's only been a week Ino! A week! A fucking week! It's only been a fucking week but it feels like a damn eternity!"

Tears began to leak from her eyes. _So they arrive. They're late._ I didn't stop giving her my suspicious stare, even as she let go of my arms to grab the front of my top and hoist me up just the slightest. "It fucking hurts! And you sitting here accusing me of shit that didn't happen isn't helping, Pig! It's just making it worse! It _hurts_." She cast her gaze to the side, slightly downward. It looked so false it was almost sickening. I wrapped a hand around her wrist. She looked down at me, brows furrowed in question.

I wrapped my other hand around her other wrist and brought myself up to look her straight in the eyes. "Sakura." Her expression didn't change, another tear trickling down her cheek as she looked me, meeting my look with her own. "You're bullshitting. I can tell you're acting, and the minute you let me go, I'm going to transfer into you so fast you're head will spin." I tightened my grip on her wrists. "The only thing stopping me here is the proximity; I need some distance to spread my arms out. Plus you'd probably just grab my hands again or slam a fist right down into my mouth. If not for that I'd be peeping through your thoughts."

She narrowed her own eyes at me and let go of my top as she let out a small sigh, her face relaxing a little. The tears were still coming down, but it occurred to me that it could've simply been out of anger and frustration rather than actual sadness. "You're crying is bullshit and that sincere act you're trying to pull off isn't working. I know you better than that Sakura, and you know that. So just tell me what the hell is wrong and what happened!" The way it came out sounded entirely too harsh, way harsher than I had meant it to sound. I softened my tone and repeated my words; "Sakura, tell me what happened."

She removed my hands on her wrists and got off of me. Her look was one of pure stone as she stood up and looked down at me. "Like I said, _Ino_, there's nothing to tell." Her face was a mask created out of false dark emotions and what seemed like the slightest bit of nervousness. I was on to something. "Just give up on it, damn it! I already told you, there's nothing," she said when she saw that I was back to my suspicious face. I extended my hands into the seal again. "Not _this_ again."

Before I could get out the first word of the incantation, she was out of the room.

I rolled over onto my stomach before sitting Indian style. I narrowed my eyes at the arch, which I was pretty sure made me look like some maniac bleach-blond who was half-expecting something to pop out and say "boo!"

_I won't embarrass her out there in front of everyone_. I ran my fingers through my blond bangs, pondering lightly. _But I'll get her alone and squeeze it out of her one way or another, even if I have to transfer into her pink little head to see it._

xXOXx

His heart was in his throat, beating as he tried to breathe, suffocating him as he made his slow ascent up the stairs. His ears twitched slightly, listening for the slightest sound despite the fact that he was nowhere near enemy territory. He was paranoid, dreading getting to the top of the staircase - not because of the person that was waiting for him there, but because of the condition she was in. He knew she would be bloody and weak, exhausted; she would be hurt and unable to move.

That was one thing he really didn't wish to see.

He made his way up the staircase slowly, taking his sweet time. A part of him told him to slow it down, to try and delay what was coming just a bit longer. Another part screamed at him to hurry up and get it over with. He was sticking with his first option. He would get there eventually, and he would face what was coming; he just didn't want to rush into something he knew he wouldn't be able to handle seeing all too well.

His foot stepped onto the landing. It was so silent on the second floor of the home that you could hear a pin drop, despite the chatter going on lazily downstairs about who knew what. He brought both feet up and stood there for a moment, gathering his mental strength to try and bear what he was going to see.

He stepped into the hallway, looking at every door closely. Of the six doors on the floor, one was open just a crack. _That has to be it. Otherwise the other doors wouldn't be closed._

It was the door right at the top of the stairs directly to his left. He stood to face it directly, staring at the white frame of the door, taking note of the four squares carved into it as its only defining design. The one thing he could think before reaching out to push the door open was _of course it would be fucking white_.

The door creaked slightly as he pushed it – a small, squeaky creak that set him on edge even further. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a lamp in the corner, as well as a little living chair right next to it. Despite the fact that Kankuro saw light, the lamp was off. He narrowed his eyes, brows furrowed in suspicion.

Then he remembered where he was.

_Wait a second. You fucking idiot there's no need to be on edge. We're at an ally's house and Tenten's here._

He mentally shook himself out of it and pushed the door the rest of the way open.

Not even all of the strength he'd managed to muster and put together was enough to prepare him for what he saw as soon as the door opened. She was there, of course, although she was nothing he'd expected to see.

She was leaned back against a fluff of white pillows, relaxing on a bed with surprisingly clean – get this – white sheets. Her hair was still up in its signature twin buns, however more than half of it was tumbling out into the pigtails that preceded them. _Her hair grew_ he thought absent-mindedly as he noticed that the hair fell to her shoulders, despite being pulled up. Her chocolate brown eyes were wide open, staring straight at him, shining with the usual spark she held, but accented by bruise-like shadows under the eye. Her lips were bright red against her unusually pale skin. Her shirt was plain white, clean and relatively new looking.

The white blanket she was under was pulled up to her waist, her arms showing scars that seemed to have been slowly fading. Despite her bangs being slightly frayed, she looked like an angel to him.

Especially when her entire face lit up at the sight of him.

"Kankuro!" She let a huge grin overtake her face as she tried to extend her arms to invite him into a huge hug, realized she was too weak, and let them fall. Her smile didn't falter. "Come here, bro!"

He stood, frozen to the spot, undecided on whether or not to go over to her and give her the hug himself or to stay at the door and talk to her from there. She raised an eyebrow when he didn't move. "Kankuro?" A look of worry flashed over her face. "Wait, you're not hurt are you?" Her eyes widened, panicked. "Oh my gangster, I didn't even once bother asking if you were hurt! I'm sorry! Are you okay, Kankuro?"

He felt her eyes scanning his entire frame, taking note of the blood slowly drying on his black shirt, the blood splattered all over his arms and hands, the blood on his knees and on the shins of his pants. She bit her lip. "You're covered in blood! Go get Sakura so she can fix you up!"

His senses finally came back online. "I'm not hurt," he responded almost instantly. Her face still looked tense and worried. "Kankuro, are you sure? You don't need to act all tough!" He shook his head. "I'm not hurt." Her brow didn't relax a bit. "Are you absolutely positive?" He nodded once. A sigh of relief escaped her, relaxing her features just a bit, although she still held the look of a tired angel.

It drove his broken heart wild.

"So then if you're not hurt, why won't you come over here?"

He cast his gaze downward, feeling the pieces of his heart ringing at the way she said it. Subconsciously, he took a step forward. His hands balled into fists of their own accord; her gaze fell to his hands. "Kankuro, you're not hurt, but you don't seem okay."

His eyes remained downward, however they shifted even further away from her to the side. He heard the sheets rustle and knew she was attempting to adjust herself. He didn't need to look up to see it; he simply knew. As a result, he stepped over and grabbed a hold of her arm. "Tenten, don't. You'll hurt yourself," was all he said to her, despite the fact that he didn't even know where exactly she'd been shot. All he'd seen was blood and a limp Tenten in that damned Neji's arms and he'd been off.

Her chocolate eyes looked up at him and for the first time since he'd entered the room he met her gaze. It was so innocent, so sweet, so sincerely happy to see him; and yet it was so questioning. She questioned why he looked so not okay and why he was hesitating around her. He felt his mouth go open as if getting ready to say something, but no sound came out. He was stuck. Of all the things he could've said that would've helped the situation, he found nothing. He closed his mouth shut and simply looked at her. She furrowed her brows and narrowed her eyes in worry. Under his hand, he felt her arm twitch, as if she were trying to move it.

"Don't move, don't force yourself. You'll only make yourself feel worse." She pouted her lip slightly in response – not on purpose, but rather because she truly was upset. He broke away from those chocolate brown eyes and let out a soft sigh. "Tenten…"

His broken heart ached at merely saying her name. He grimaced at the pain as he thought of what to say next. Quite honestly he'd been in such a rush to get out of Orochimaru's hideout that he hadn't exactly thought of what to say in the first place. He'd just used the excuse to break the tension he'd created when he'd stepped up to the damned Hyuga.

Tenten sat there, simply staring at him as he thought. _Damn it what the hell should I say to her?_ He frowned to himself, tightening his grip just the slightest on her arm. Her eyes flicked down to look at her arm before she looked right back up at his face. He could feel her staring. He shifted his eyes back over to look at her cherubic face before he let out another sigh, this one much more long and drawled out than the first one. He just let out the first thing that came to mind.

"Tenten, I love you."

He saw her give him a weak nod. "I know, Kankuro." Her voice was weak as well, slightly raspy because of it. "I've known for a while now." This time it was she who looked away. Her gaze shifted toward the foot of the bed where her own feet were poking up in the cover of the thick blanket on her. "I've known all this time that you love me, Kankuro. But…"

She stopped for a second, biting her lip and narrowing her eyes. He could easily see that what she was trying to say pained her.

_But why? Because she knows what she's going to say will hurt me? It's not like she cares in the first place._

His thoughts froze abruptly at that. He knew that was a downright lie. Tenten might not have loved him as he loved her, but she always cared, or else she wouldn't have been so concerned when he'd seen all of the blood he was caked in when he walked in. She wouldn't have gotten upset over him and Neji fighting and run off in the first place.

He winced inwardly at the memory, at how her face had been so full of hurt that it hurt _him_ almost as much as the words she were saying. He suddenly knew exactly what to say.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry but -."

He'd spoken at the exact same time that she'd tried to continue what she was saying. She looked up at him meaningfully, her chocolate brown eyes making him feel as if she could see straight through him. "I'm sorry, you can keep going," he said simply. She shook her head in the slightest. "No, Kankuro; it's okay, you can keep on." He let out a small breath. "No, you were talking first. Go ahead."

She pursed her lips for a moment, and then continued on. Her gaze fell again as she spoke. "I was saying I'm sorry Kankuro, but I don't feel the same as you do." She let out a shaky sigh. "I love you, trust me, I do. I just don't love you in that way." When the words came directly from her, they hurt four times as much, but after all of this finally hearing her say it gave him a strange sense of relief.

"You've always been like a brother to me, so protective and sweet. You've always cheered me up when I've been down; you've always made me feel so loved, Kankuro." Her eyes came back up to his face. "And now I feel bad." Her voice cracked slightly as she said it, tears starting to rise into her eyes. "I feel so bad because I should be there for you to protect you and make you feel better like you've always done to me _because_ you're like a brother to me. But…" She stopped, shaking a bit as she said it. He could see just how weak and tired she was when she closed her eyes the way she did, fighting back the tears that he could easily see were threatening to spill. "But instead," she continued a few seconds later, her voice still cracking, tears slowly beginning to come down. "Instead I'm the one causing you all of the pain to begin with."

A small sob ripped through her. She narrowed her eyes and turned her head away as another one followed, and then another, and then another.

He merely stood there staring at the back of her head where the baby hairs had managed to escape and were waving out to where her back was at the nape of her neck. Her shoulders shook as she cried, and he could tell she wanted nothing more than to hide her face behind her hands, although she was far too weak to actually do it.

Carefully, gently, he placed a hand under her chin and turned her face to him. The tears were flowing down her unusually pale cheeks, her nose turning slightly pink as she sniffled once. Her eyes were huge, making her resemble a deer about to get hit by a car. She was still so heartbreakingly beautiful to him, even as she sat there crying.

Without another thought he pressed his lips to her forehead lightly for a moment. The skin there was warm. Another, much smaller sob, escaped her yet again. He pulled back and looked her straight in the eyes.

"It's okay Tenten." She didn't blink; she simply continued looking at him. He continued. "It's perfectly fine if you don't love me the way I love you." His heart ached at the words, but what more could he do? He'd lost her in the way he'd wished he'd be able to have her some day before he even had her. "I'll still love you; that will never change." He removed the hand from under her chin to cup her cheek and wipe the tears on the side of her face away. "As a matter of fact, I know for a fact that I'll only love you more with every passing day."

More tears fell from her glimmering orbs. With trouble, she weakly placed a hand over his, catching him completely off guard. He twitched in the slightest out of surprise, but didn't remove his hand from her face. "But maybe," a small smile, "my love for you will change so that one day I'll love you the way you love me." He gave her a brave smile, taking in a small breath with it. "And even after that day comes, I'll keep protecting you and making you feel better when you're down, okay?"

Again she merely stared at him for a moment before she actually nodded her head. "So stop crying, you big goof." She gave him her own brave smile at that and curled her fingers over the hand he had on her cheek. He curled his fingers over hers in return. "And hey," he pressed forward, "I'm sorry about fighting with your … boyfriend earlier."

He turned his head down again. "If it hadn't been for us fighting, you wouldn't have gotten all upset and been in this condition." He shut his eyes tight, although he felt the weak squeeze she gave his hand. "Kankuro, it's okay. You were partly to blame, but it was mainly his fault for being so jealous and overprotective."

Said boy let out an odd laugh. "But I provoked him, so it's technically my fault whichever way you look at it." He looked back up at her to see a scowl planted firmly on her brow. Despite being injured her scowl still held the same effect it had if she were perfectly healthy. "Well, listen here Kankuro, you provoked him but he was jealous enough to fall for it and further the problem. Therefore, it's his fault." He raised an eyebrow at her this time. "Oh really? So the fact that I flirted with you despite you telling me that you have a boyfriend and provoking him into fighting with me means absolutely nothing and still makes him responsible for this whole mess?"

She let her breath out in a huff. "I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt here, Kankuro, so just take it damn it! You know I never do this!" He let out a small laugh – a much more joyous and hearty laugh. He saw her face soften into a small smile before she let out a weak little laugh of her own. His grin spread so wide at the sound of that joyous laughter; it had felt like days when really it had only been a few hours since he'd heard it.

From the window, he could see the moon begin to set and the sun's orange glow coming into the room. _So that was where the light was coming from_ he thought absentmindedly.

The orange glow hit against the side of the face of the brunette girl before him, making her wet cheeks and brown, glimmering eyes shine brightly. He smoothed her bangs back softly as he said, "Get some rest. I love you."

She nodded as he let go of her hand and brought his own back down to hook a finger under her chin. With another kiss to her forehead, he was up and out of the room.

* * *

_As usual, I apologize for how long this took. School gave me a shitload of work and sports didn't help all too much either. Anyway, I'm on summer break so I've been able to work on this despite summer work for AP, so I promise I'll try my absolute best to get a couple other chapters up! I'll also be trying to update "All is Fair in Love and War" and "ABC's" seeing as I haven't updated those two in over a year already (I felt so terrible when I saw that! Although I had a chapter for ABC's ready a while back and forgot to post it and ended up deleting it completely by accident!). And hey, I put up a trailer for Fate on Youtube so you guys might want to check out my sucky work for sneaks into the sequel to this story ;) there's a few things in there that you haven't seen here yet (hint hint) but that you will be seeing soon because - surprise surprise - the story's almost over! (:_

_On another note, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and review please! Let me know you guys are still out there! ^_^  
_


	33. Resolution

**Chapter Thirty-Three**  
**Resolution**

_I've never felt so strong_  
_Life can lead us  
To a happiness never-ending_

_If we just know that we belong to each other_  
_Never worry_  
_Grow as we go – Taeyang; Wedding Dress [English Version]_

**Resolution**

He was down the stairs in a heartbeat, his heart, although still presenting a dull pain, significantly better. He'd seen the brown-haired girl that caught his affections there surrounded by white, panda buns falling apart but there nonetheless, making her seem perfectly fine, albeit a bit angelic. He smiled at the picture he'd mentally captured of her as he was in the room. Her face had lit up when she'd seen him, although he'd frozen at the mere sight of her (which was why the photo was so ingrained in his memory). Her perfectly joyous smile was enough to send him soaring, as well as to awaken the anguish he'd felt at the moment.

But that was behind him now, since he'd talked things out with her – expressed to her the feelings she'd known for years that he held toward her, and came up with a resolution: to transform his love into something familial rather than romantic. Given the current circumstances, he knew it would be pointless to keep trying to court her when she so clearly had her heart set on someone else (despite how much of an asshole he was). Therefore, he'd told her he'd change so that the whole situation wouldn't come up again – and every word he'd said he meant absolutely. Nothing was going to deter him from accomplishing this newfound goal.

He stepped into the living room and caught sight of the people who'd brought him home getting particularly comfortable. His normally spiky-haired sister had already cuddled up with her boyfriend and fallen asleep. He stepped over to her and tapped her on the shoulder. Her teal eyes popped open, although they showed a deep grogginess that implied she'd been falling deeper and deeper into her slumber already. She frowned, narrowing her eyes against the light coming from the lamp in the corner and the ceiling fan, as well as from the windows, putting a hand up to try to block it. She looked up at her brother questioningly, raising an eyebrow.

"You should go take a shower; you were around all those bloody dead bodies. Bacteria might be crawling all over you and you wouldn't even know until it was too late." To this she let out a long sigh, although gave no feisty retorts. "Yeah, I know." She sat up on the couch and rubbed her eye, slipping easily out of her boyfriends embrace. Kankuro could see a minute change in his face that implied he missed the person next to him. A little moan escaped the kid as he reached out and wrapped a hand lazily around Temari's arm.

"He should take a shower too," he said to his blond-haired sister. "You've been all cuddling up with the kid – he could be covered in it too." At this, his younger sister grinned, turned to grab her boyfriend's arm, and responded, "Alright." She tugged lightly. "C'mon Shika, we gotta go take a shower."

She glanced slyly up at her brother, who swatted at her hand and looked at the boy behind her on the couch. He looked dazed with sleep, although by the look of slight horror on his face, Kankuro knew he understood what was going on easily. The pineapple-ponytailed boy let out a sigh. "Woman, how many times do I have to tell you you're going to get me killed?" Temari merely laughed and placed an easy kiss on his cheek.

"You really do have to shower after I do, though," she said to him. "I was running around bloody dead bodies and you were hugging all on me, so you have my bloody body germs." She grinned, her blond hair falling to her shoulders and swishing with the slightest movements of her face. He let out another sigh, responding "Well then wake me up when you're done." That being said, he fell asleep all over again, Temari standing up off the couch yawning (and thus placing a hand over her mouth to muffle it) to go shower.

Her brother grabbed a hold of her arm, gently although with a firm grip. "Don't get too comfortable making cracks like that," he warned, "especially around Gaara. We both know I don't like you going around making jokes like that, sis, but Gaara – heh – he'll kill your boyfriend if you so much talk about kissing in front of him."

Temari brushed off her brother's words with a smile. "Kankuro, I'm not stupid; I wouldn't do that." He raised an eyebrow at her, not letting her go just yet. "Just a few hours ago you were telling Gaara he'd made plays at you and tried to get in your pants. You almost got his whole gang killed thanks to that." She rolled her eyes at him, still retaining her smile. "Oh relax, Bro. I was joking – I wouldn't really try to get Gaara to kill him." Her gaze fell upon him. Kankuro instantly noticed the way her eyes softened and her smile became fond.

_She loves him_.

The simple thought sent him into an odd sort of shock. It was tough to come to grips with the fact that his baby sister (although being only a good year younger than him, he still called her his baby sister) was in love. His eye twitched slightly, his grip on her arm loosened. She noticed, for she looked over at him as she slipped out of his grip.

"Anyway, I'm gonna go shower since you seemed so adamant about it."

With that, she turned and made her way up the stairs. He heard her shuffle about upstairs, seeming to stop in one of the rooms toward the back, opening and shutting things, and then shuffling into some other room and closing the door. A few moments later, the sound of running water reached him.

He turned to look at whoever else was in the living room. Ino was comfortably cuddled up with Kiba on the couch in front of the TV (something he would absolutely have to mortify her for when they all woke up later) while Neji reclined in the one-seater, leaning his head on his fist and looking directly at him. He raised an eyebrow at the Hyuga – not in challenge, but more so in question, for he was far too exhausted to challenge him.

"What?"

The Hyuga closed his eyes and lifted his brows. Kankuro noticed for the first time the hints of bruise-like circles under his eyes. He was tired too. As for words, he said nothing, although he did open his eyes to look straight at Kankuro again.

Said boy muffled down a yawn with his hand, rolled his shoulders back, and waved a hand at him. "Do you know where Sakura is? I'm going to the other base." The Hyuga raised an eyebrow before signaling toward the arch to the kitchen. Kankuro gave him a nod before heading in to find Hinata flipping a pancake on the stove and Sakura devouring one at the table.

They both glanced up as soon as he walked in, Sakura with a piece of pancake hanging out the side of her mouth. Her emerald eyes were widened – a true deer in the headlights expression – as she pushed the rest of the pancake piece into her mouth with her tongue and gave him a syrupy smile, reaching for a napkin.

He stepped into the kitchen a bit further, straight over to Hinata to give her a one-armed hug as she cooked the pancake. "I'll see you tomorrow, uh, later today I mean."

The sunlight was truly beginning to push through the curtains in the kitchen (odd how the people who actually lived in the house were men yet they had curtains on all the kitchen windows). Hinata nodded against him, returning his hug just as easily. He placed a hand on her head, ruffling her short hair much like one would a cute puppy with scruffy fur. "And you make sure that hyperactive blond kid treats you like the princess you are, hear me?"

A cute giggle escaped her as she nodded in response. "That's something you don't have to worry about, Kankuro-kun." A light blush tinted her cheeks. "Even though he's hyper, he's the sweetest boy I've ever met." Kankuro returned her smile fondly. "Good to know."

He then made his way over to Sakura and flicked her forehead lightly. She scowled up at him. "The hell was that for?" She was holding her fork up, another chunk of her pancake stabbed onto it. He gave her a smirk that read "you know damn well what that was for." Her response was a smile and an awkward sort of one-and-a-half armed hug, for she did not bother putting the fork down before hugging him.

"I'll see you girls later."

Hinata nodded twice while Sakura's smile brightened. "Okay, love you," was their simultaneous reply.

"Love you girls too," Kankuro said as he made his way through the archway back into the living, a yawn escaping him as he turned and stepped onto the carpet. He placed a hand over his mouth to muffle it.

"Seems like Don Juan is tired."

Kankuro couldn't stop himself; despite being utterly drained and dying to shower and fall into a bed to sleep he found himself rolling his eyes and sending the exhausted Hyuga in the one-seater a rude quip. "Still upset because you look like a girl?"

Neji seemed unabashed. As a matter of fact he smirked. "Says the one who wears make-up."

Kankuro felt annoyance beginning to stir. "It's face paint. Either way, even without make-up you look like a girl with that damn long hair of yours."

"My hair adds to my looks. Your hair looks like a rat's ass."

Kankuro shut an eye, his annoyance increasing as he met the cold silver gaze of the boyfriend of the girl he loved more than himself.

"Still upset because your hair's compensating for something?"

Again, the wretched boy's smirk broadened, his eyes taking on a depth that sent them deep into darkness.

"Still upset because Tenten loves me and not you?"

He'd admit it – he felt that, somewhere deep down. Yet he smiled slightly, not breaking eye contact with the guy he so badly wanted to hurt for taking what he once believed would've been his sweetheart (because he'd come to realize that she never really would be his in the first place. She'd known for at least three years how he felt for her and still didn't return his feelings). "Tenten loves me."

He spoke confidently, his smile continually broadening as the sun peeked in through the blinds in the window of the living room, hitting one side of his face brightly while throwing the other in shadow. He barely noticed the extra light in his eyes. "She may not love me in the way that she loves you." A slight twinge somewhere deep in his chest made him momentarily stop. "But she loves me nonetheless."

The silver-eyed boy before him held his gaze strongly. Kankuro saw what appeared to be anger in the depths of those eyes filled with darkness. His anger seemed to intensify as he sat there leaning his head on his closed fist. Kankuro raised an eyebrow at the kid; again, not out of challenge but merely in question, as if to say, "Why are you looking at me like that? I can't win, therefore I don't bother. I have no problems with you."

The message was received, for the boy before him dropped his smirk and traded it for a rather tired expression. "Alright, whatever you say." He muffled a yawn, waving Kankuro off before adding. "Shouldn't you get going anyway? It's seven in the morning."

Kankuro shrugged, muffled yet another yawn himself, and began making his way over to the door just as his sister came back down the stairs. Her hair was damp, some parts dripping on the oversized T-shirt that she wore over what were presumably her boyfriend's boxers.

_She's going to get her boyfriend killed and I'm going to die of a damn aneurism._

He stopped in front of his sister before making it to the door, putting up an index finger as he opened his mouth to speak. Before a single word could escape, however, she let out a sigh. "I know, I know; I'm gonna get him killed and you'll die young as a result. It's not that big of a deal. Better this than in panties and a tank top with no bra, right?"

A ghost of the anger he'd felt earlier that night rose up within him, mixing dangerously with the slight annoyance the damned Hyuga had just made him feel. He looked at his usually spiky-haired sister disbelievingly, closing his index-finger-raised hand into a hard fist, fighting the temptation to let it collide with the top of her head. He gritted his teeth. She grinned. "Just relax Bro, I'll be fine. I know what I'm doing; I can take care of myself."

He narrowed his eyes at her, his frown becoming a deep set glare. "Listen demon child - "

He was cut off by his sister's short laugh, her cheeks blushing a light pink. He dropped his glare for an expression of confusion as she muffled her giggles with a hand. "I'm not the demon child," she said between spurts. "Gaara is."

Just as when he'd sent Neji that retort, he couldn't stop himself. A grin broke out on his face that eventually gave way to his own burst of laughter. He placed a hand over his face to mute the sound at least the slightest so as to not bother those who were already sleeping.

It took them both a few minutes to completely calm down. Afterword his sister placed a light kiss on his cheek before stepping over to her sleeping boyfriend and tapping him on the shoulder. "Your turn," he heard her whisper in the kid's ear. He rolled his eyes and shook his head as he twisted the knob of the front door and made his way out to the front porch.

He seemed to remember something, stopped, stepped back into the house, grabbed a key chain with two identical keys dangling off the same ring, and made his way over to the driveway with a simple, "Temari, I'm taking the bike."

"You're lucky you're my brother."

He gave a toothy smirk to no one in particular as he gently eased the key in the ignition – for fear that his sister would come after him with that damned fan if he shoved the key in – and revved the bike. The resulting roar echoed along the empty street, resounding proudly as he pulled out of the driveway and down to the temporary hideout he, his brother, and their gangs would spend their time in Konoha in.

**Resolution**

**Sakurambo  
**Something was up.

From what I could sense, Sakura wasn't feeling her usual depressed emotions; she was throwing them up on the surface – no doubt to try and throw me off – although I was still able to feel the giddiness that she felt deep within. It really made me wonder what the hell had happened earlier that night.

She and Kankuro had been out for quite a while.

_Could it be possible that…_

I shook my head at myself. _That's ridiculous! Sakura thinks of Kankuro of a brother! Of course nothing like that happened!_ I pursed my lips as I placed my hands behind my head, adding extra support that the lone pillow I had couldn't do.

Funny as it seemed, I was lying down quite comfortably in a double bed with the extremely perilously injured Rock Lee. It was probably a horrible idea, seeing as he was injured in one of the most central parts of his body, but whatever; I'm not a hyper sleeper. I always curled up on my side and stayed in one spot either way. I wouldn't hurt him. Plus he offered a sense of comfort despite the fact that he was so doped on up painkillers that he could barely stay awake for more than half an hour every few hours to eat, drink (only water), and shower.

I wasn't on my side yet, however. I was relaxing on my back next to him. From what I could tell of the room, it was his. The sheets he was currently under were green, the pillows sheathed in a darker shade of the same color. The floor was wooden and the walls white, as with the rest of the six bedrooms and the hallway. There was a lamp – with a green shade of all things – in the corner, turned off, leaving the room in darkness save for the bits of sunlight peaking in through the window.

It was so ridiculously green, yet it was oddly really cute. The colors brightened up my mood easily; no matter how down I felt and no matter how much seeing Lee all sleepy and pained saddened me. Strange how I'd met the kid only a little while ago and he already had this effect on me.

It's not like I liked him; of course not. It was simply that I felt guilty because I'd been the one that'd shot him and destroyed his ability to stay awake without feeling pain as well as his ability to move about freely. That single bullet, with all its zooming-from-a-mile-away power, had knocked out parts of his nervous system. While Sakura had done the basic stuff and removed the bullet and sealed the wound, thus returning part of his motion, she hadn't been able to cure him so that he'd recover fully. It was something that absolutely needed to be done by an expert medic – like, say, Tsunade.

It really was a tremendous thing that she'd accepted. She'd said yes to treating one of the thousands of students in her school who was injured for – at least what _I_ was sure was – absolutely no reason at all. Of all of the students who needed medical attention – who went to that school simply to grab her attention and ask for her assistance – she'd chosen Lee. It was questionable, no doubt, but it was also quite useful and therefore we were all very grateful that she'd stepped up to the job that Sakura couldn't do. Meanwhile, Sakura was over here holed up and acting all depressed.

Or at least she _had _been up until a few hours ago. Those surface emotions had been enough to trick me a few hours ago, feeling the hum of her emotions, but as soon as I actually started to pay attention, I noticed that she wasn't truly depressed anymore. Normally, I would've been monumentally excited and happy for her, yet what bothered me is that I had _no clue_ as to why she was so happy or at least peaceful to some extent beneath all the layers of false sadness. It was one of those times where I really wished I _could_ read her mind.

This was one of the drawbacks of Ino's damned mistake; I could easily sense how Sakura was feeling, almost as if we were truly twins and had the whole telepathy thing going. But, despite being able to sense how she was feeling and predict her movements in combat and being able to mimic her in the slightest fraction of a second, I still couldn't read her mind.

The bond that we shared was one that simply allowed me to be able to sense her hum of emotions and gut-reactions and the like, which then allowed me to _predict _what she was going to do, think, or say. But I couldn't actually _think _what she was thinking unless she was openly thinking about it.

And she was nowhere _near_ open about this. Her emotions were concealed – quite poorly I might add – however concealed nonetheless. And admittedly, it hurt. Sakura was never one to keep things from me, no matter how bad it was or how upset she knew we would get with her. She always told either me or Ino what was going on in her mind if she knew we couldn't come up with the answer on our own. Now it seemed as if she didn't want us to be able to feel that something was up, let alone come up with the answer or tell us herself.

_I wonder if she's told Ino anything about this._

I pursed my lips in thought all over again. _There's something so off about her it's ridiculous! What the hell went down with her and Kankuro that she's all happy again?_

I simply lay there for a moment, hands behind my head for support, the comfortable mattress soothing my back as light poured in from the window directly across from the door. (The sun had been rising for quite a while; it made me question as to when the hell it was going to get off its lazy ass and bring itself all the way up.) Absolutely nothing came to mind as I lay there thinking.

My hands automatically grabbed at the hair on the back of my head, allowing myself to hold in the frustrated scream that I so desperately wanted to let out. I'd been so used to being able to predict Sakura's thoughts and know exactly what had been on her mind – either through that prediction or through her directly telling me – that the mere idea of not knowing anything at the moment really upset me.

My eyes shut of their own accord and I removed my hands from behind my head to cross my arms over my chest. "What the hell, man?"

It came out as a whisper, albeit an angry one, which is why I was surprised when the heavily doped up kid next to me woke up suddenly, eyes spread widely, lashes flashing back and forth as he blinked rapidly for a moment before settling into rhythm. His left arm gave an odd sort of twitch, as though he were going to use it to support himself in sitting up. However, he did not for the life of him get up. Instead, he winced, felt the disturbance of my worried movement toward him, and rotated both his eyes and head so that I came into his field of vision.

His dark and heavily lashed eyes were still glazed under the few stray bangs from his bowl cut that needed to be trimmed if he planned on maintaining the look. There was the slightest hint that he was aware of what was going on, though, despite all of the medication. His gaze caught mine for a moment, and my heart stopped beating for an instant.

Even though he was ridiculously sleepy because of all the medicine, he seemed to know exactly who I was and seemed as though he wanted to tell me something. I raised a pink eyebrow at him. He blinked a few times before he spoke, his voice coming out raspy and rough from long hours without use. "Sakura…mbo?" I smiled at him as brightly as I could and nodded my head twice. A small, however pained smile crossed his features as he turned his head to face me slowly, the sunlight peeking in through the window lighting up part of his face.

"You okay? Do you need anything?"

He attempted to shake his head, although realizing that it would hurt, he quickly abandoned the idea. "Ah no, I am quite alright." I raised my eyebrow at him again. "So then what is it? You had to have faced me for a reason."

His smile didn't fade for even the briefest instant, but rather seemed to brighten. "I felt a presence on the bed and simply turned to see who it was. I thought maybe Sakura had come in to see how I was. I see that it is not her." He took the briefest pause. "However," a short, deep breath, "I am happy that it is you."

I felt the beginnings of a blush creeping onto my cheeks. Fighting it down, I cast my gaze down and mumbled a little "thanks, I guess."

Our short conversation stretched into a silence that was awkward, however strangely comforting. For some odd reason even though I was embarrassed the fact that he didn't speak made me feel a bit better. It probably had to do with the fact that he wasn't a mocking bastard, unlike Neji was with Tenten and Sasuke had been with Sakura.

And damn it, there it was again; that damned feeling that Sakura was concealing something about her feelings and why she wasn't depressed. It made me want to smack myself around and then go and smack _her_ around for making me get so curious that it got to the point of me smacking myself around. My fist clenched of its own accord.

I could tell Lee noticed this because I could _feel_ his questioning gaze. "Are you alright," was his question after a moment. I unclenched my fist and let out a small, slightly frustrated sigh. "I'm fine." I felt him continue to stare at me, not raising an eyebrow, not sending me a soft, forceful glare, but rather furrowing his rather thick, dark brows into a concerned frown. He was still lying down and as a result had to look up, making the frown appear deeper than it really was. I let a small smile escape, more so to reassure Lee than because I was better. "I'm serious, I'm okay Lee."

His response was only a slight deepening of his frown before he let out a soft, sleepy sigh. "Okay. If you say so, Sakurambo." A small yawn escaped him, his eyelids coming down sleepily. My smile automatically became fonder – I could _feel_ it. He was so cute when he was sleepy!

"Are you sleepy?"

He didn't nod as his eyes shut slowly, dark and thick lashes falling against his ever paling cheeks. His face was so peaceful, his muscles relaxed, his eyebrows arching slightly (if you looked close enough you could see a natural shape under the thickness).

"Lee?"

I waited a moment for him to respond, but when he didn't I leaned over and brushed his hair back from his forehead lightly. He cracked a sleepy eye open, his dark eye meeting my gaze for a moment. My heart did a back-flip and belly flopped its way into my feet before rising back up. "Hmm?" His eyebrow raised slightly out of sheer habit.

"Are you sleepy?"

He gave me a tired, hazy look before he responded with a simple "mhmm." As a result, a small giggle escaped me as I smoothed my thumb over his forehead. It seemed to ease him into his sleep faster because before I knew it he was motionless save for the rising and falling of his chest as he breathed.

I smoothed his hair back a few more times before I gave a small sigh and lay on my back to rest next to him. My arms went right back behind my head, once again providing the support that the pillows on the bed couldn't. It was truly a wonder how Lee could sleep here so easily. On top of Sakura coming in every so often to check his status, these pillows were really flimsy and lacked fluffing as well as stuffing (it rhymes!).

_Damn it!_

The subject of Sakura popped back into my mind (considering the fact that seeing Lee go all sleepy and groggy dropped the subject from my mind at how adorable he'd been). I gritted my teeth and re-clenched my fist as the sunlight began to shine right in my eye.

_I really want to know what the hell happened that she's so bright and happy! She was way too depressed to be feeling the way she is right now. It must've been something drastic._

I held my current position for a moment, my clenched fist tugging on my hair, my teeth gritted in frustration, before I let out a long, soft sigh, slumping back against the mattress in my spot next to Lee.

The sun was up, the night had been long, and the consequences of being awake for nearly twenty-four hours and expending desperate amounts of energy fighting and gathering shit and bringing over the injured to the other side of town to your ally gang's home slash hideout and dealing with an emotionally shot telepathic twin of sorts and a whole house of emotionally challenged hormone-crazed teenagers was beginning to take its toll. The light was blinding to eyes as exhausted as mine as it began pouring through the blinds in the window. My body was aching in all sorts of different places, and the soft green sheets beneath me, combined with the warmth from Lee's nearby body, were beginning to tempt me.

My eyes began getting heavy as I reached over and covered a small yawn.

My curiosity was still murdering me, though. Internally, a war was being fought between my body's craving to collapse and fall into unconsciousness and my mind's curiosity as to what the hell had Sakura walking around like a boy who'd just had sex for the first time (she was _that_ happy beneath all the fake emotions. It was so odd!).

Unfortunately, Sakura's sudden mood swing would have to wait a while. Another, much longer and louder yawn escaped me. I muffled it with my hand as long as needed before curling up onto my side and facing Lee. His profile was partially lit by the rays of sunlight sneaking in through the window, although parts of his profile were thrown in shadow because some of that same sunlight was hitting me as well. I smiled softly at the way he looked from this perspective.

Despite being utterly drained because of medication and as a result doing nothing but sleeping for the past few days to weeks, his face was set in grim determination. It was almost as if he were trying to prove a point in his sleep, like he was fighting off some dark enemy. The simple thought broadened the smile on my face as my eyelids began to close in on my field of vision.

His dark, evenly trimmed albeit growing hair was falling to the sides of his forehead, some of it flopping back from when I'd smoothed it over. His face was motionless, although his chest was moving calmly and heavily with his deep sleep. He'd already fallen into REM sleep, his eyes beginning to twitch slightly.

By now the corners of my eyes had long been surrounded by the darkness that was overtaking me. It carefully spread over to the center of my vision, beginning as simple splotches and gradually joining together.

_Like globs of paint dripping down a canvas._

It was my last coherent thought before I let myself drift into a warm and comfortable sleep next to the unknowing teddy bear that was my Rock.

**Tenten  
**When I woke up, it was already way past noon. The sunlight that had just begun to peek in when Kankuro came in to speak to me was already filtering in past the point of the midday sun. I figured that I'd slept a good six maybe seven hours. It wasn't much for someone injured, but hell it was better than nothing. Those few hours were more than enough to give me more strength than I'd had the night before.

A small yawn escaped me, and I quickly placed a hand over my mouth to muffle it a bit so that it wouldn't come out as loud. I glanced over at the clock on the bedside table and let a small sigh escape through my nose. It was already two o'clock. In other words, I'd gotten seven hours of sleep rather than the six.

Deciding it was time to get up and do something about my breath and my ridiculous need to pee, I began to push myself up with my elbows, wincing as the movement made the pain in my leg go from a numb soreness to a sharp stab. It took me a while to sit up and lean myself back against the propped up pillows, resulting in the ever famous slightly labored breathing and the beginning of sweat along my brow. The white covers that had been over me during the morning slipped down to my waist though, removing some of the heat that had been rising within me from my effort.

A slight movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention and I immediately went into hyper-alert mode, snapping my head around to see what was causing the movement. Imagine my surprise when I saw Neji there, hair let loose and sprawled out across the bed sheets, head resting on top of his arms on the side of the bed. His eyes were closed and unblinking, lashes dark against the pale skin of his cheeks as he breathed deeply and regularly. The sight made me smile at the cuteness. I'd never really paid attention to how adorable and peaceful he looked when he slept; it was as if the whole world could stop what they were doing and lay down and sleep because of his face.

That silly thought made the urge to giggle bubble up from within me, escaping me in a soft ring that was barely audible. Therefore, it surprised the shit out of me when Neji's eyes snapped open and quickly began scanning the room. His shoulders had tensed as soon as he'd awoken, but he hadn't moved an inch in the slightest. He hadn't even removed his head from his arms.

I stared at him with what I'm sure were eyes the size of dinner plates. He caught sight of me and relaxed instantly, eyes going from murderous intent to gentle worry. He stood up without a moment's notice and placed a hand on my forehead, looking into my own eyes. "Hey, are you okay? Did you need something?"

I blinked a few times, feeling the color rush to my cheeks for a moment out of the pure unexpectedness of his actions, before shaking my head slowly. "I'm fine, Neji. I just need to pee and do something about this morning breath."

His eyebrows knitted themselves into a frown, eyes narrowing slightly in curiosity, as if he needed to process my words. He removed his hand from my forehead before pulling me into the most affectionate hug he'd ever given me, sitting himself comfortably beside me on the bed. I blinked a few more times in surprise as I felt his hand on the back of my head, his chin on my shoulder while his other arm wrapped around my midsection, trapping my right arm.

It took me a moment to realize what he was doing, so it took me even longer to wrap my arms around him in response. I felt the smile that I'd had when I'd seen him asleep sliding back into place on my face. His smooth, deep voice came to me barely above a whisper. "I'm so glad you're okay."

My smile dropped; his voice shook as he continued. "I was so scared I was going to lose you." His hold on me tightened. "When I got to you, you were so cold and pale; I was terrified that I'd been too late. Your breathing was so slow…"

Out of sheer subconsciousness I began rubbing his back soothingly with my hands, placing my chin on his shoulder much in the same way that he was doing to me. I closed my eyes and breathed in his scent. He'd clearly taken another shower before going to sleep because he still smelled like soap and shampoo (his damn hair was prettier than mine!).

He didn't cry this time, as he had done the last time, but settled for burying his face in my neck for a little while. It seemed like he couldn't go on after those words; he simply stayed the way he was, his warm breath tickling my neck, despite the fact that he wasn't talking one bit. His hold on me didn't loosen, so I, in turn, stopped rubbing his back and tightened my hold on him.

We stayed that way for a while – how exactly long, I wasn't sure, but we didn't move an inch for the longest time. It seemed as if the sun had already sunken a little lower by the time we pulled apart. He pulled back and placed a hand on my cheek, his eyes seeming to search my face. I raised an eyebrow out of habit; it probably made me look like a sarcastic ass (but hey, maybe it was just returning the favor for the sarcastic ass he'd been when I'd first met him!).

He smiled when he caught sight of my eyebrow, stayed like that for a moment, as if thinking, and then let out a small chuckle. "What's the eyebrow for?" I shrugged. "I don't know, but you were staring. It went up on its own. It has its own mind."

He raised his eyebrow at me now, although his face had more of a sarcastic arrogant look than I was sure mine had. "Oh, so now eyebrows can think?" I rolled my eyes, stopping when it gave me a slight headache, before I gave him a look. "Oh shush, Neji, you know what I meant." His eyebrow fell into a small smile as he leaned back onto his arms on the bed. He stared at me for another long while. I was starting to grow really impatient with it.

"What? Is there something on my face that you keep staring at me with that big goofy grin of yours?"

His smile broadened and I resisted the urge to punch his arm (and then kiss his cheek as an apology and just to throw in some bipolarness for the hell of it). "It's just that you're so cute when you're wearing all white. It makes your hair and eyes look even browner."

I frowned and pursed my lips. "How the hell does looking muddy in all white make me look cute?" He shrugged and straightened up, rubbing my head a bit. "I don't know, maybe it's because you're just cute."

It was one of the rare times that he actually complimented me. I couldn't help it; I blushed, a small smile coming onto my face as I turned my head away in slight embarrassment. I could practically _hear_ the bastard smirking. A long, awkward moment passed, making me really consider that all this time was going by when I _desperately_ needed to pee. I bit my lip without really realizing it, the blood dripping down my chin slightly as result.

Neji instantly was set off. "Tenten what's wrong?"

I felt the blood rushing into my cheeks just then, because for the first time since I'd been awake, I noticed that the house was entirely silent, which meant no one was awake.

Which meant that Neji would have to be the one to take me to the bathroom.

I let out a small, nervous laugh, the blush spreading down into my neck and ears into what I'm sure was the ugliest shade of red imaginable. "It's just that um," I started, bringing a hand up to rub the back of my neck despite how weak I felt. "I um. . . I still have to pee."

The blush on my face deepened – I felt the heat growing more intense, to the point where I was almost sweating. I studied his face as he took in what I said. A short moment passed before he twisted his face into an embarrassed grimace, cheeks reddening slightly. He pursed his lips into a frown in puzzlement and the question on his face was evident: _Should I wake up one of the girls?_

"Waking up the girls would be a bad idea," I warned when I saw him seem to contemplate the idea further. "Temari's really bitchy when you wake her up, so she might throw a fit. Ino just won't wake up, Sakura will swing at your face and kick at your babies, Karin will probably put a gun to your forehead, but I'm not too sure about her." I paused for a moment and considered what Karin truly would do, but continued after a few seconds, abandoning the train of thoughts that had begun to creep up. "Anyway, Sakurambo would probably sense your movement and throw the nearest object at you so you really wouldn't have time to get away, and Hinata, well…"

I stopped again, this time thinking about what Hinata's actions would be. "Usually, Hinata's really cute and adorable and innocent when she wakes up, but if she was exhausted from the night before it's best to let her sleep. She's one, our strategist after all, and two a really scary person when she doesn't get a minimum amount of sleep."

Neji raised an eyebrow at my analysis of his idea before sighing and dropping his face back into a look of resignation. I gave him a small, apologetically embarrassed smile as he stood up from the bed. He scanned me from top to bottom as he stood, eyes gliding over all of the white surfaces that covered me. My blush intensified yet again.

_What the hell blood cells? Can you like please go back to where you belong?_

Disregarding my rude thought, my blood only seemed to continue to rush into my face.

_Damn insubordinate oxygen carrying assholes._

Neji stepped a bit closer and reached a hand down momentarily before thinking better of it and retracting it. He narrowed his eyes as he scanned the white blanket that covered my body from the waist down. I noticed the blush creeping onto his cheeks yet again, barely there, but just there enough to be visible. He raised the same hand he'd reached out to scratch the back of his neck, clearly embarrassed.

"How the hell am I going to do this?"

I pursed my lips and furrowed my brow, thinking of a way to do this without causing embarrassment for both of us. If he picked me up by supporting my back first, the blanket wouldn't shift much, but it would still shift, and it wasn't like it needed to shift much to expose the fact that Sakura had left me in just a white t-shirt and underwear so that no clothes would get caught up where the bandages were. If he tried to pick me up by the legs first, it'd probably hurt a bit and be a little awkward for him to try and come over to pick my top half up.

_But it seems like the best option right now_.

I let out a small sigh and responded to his question. "Legs first. Lift them up and put your arm under my knees, then put an arm under my back or something and take it from there."

He shifted slightly in his place at my words, face seemingly still embarrassed and uncomfortable. I lifted my eyebrow again. "What is it now?" He avoided my gaze as the light blush on his face intensified just the slightest. "It's just that if I pick you up by the legs," he said, "I'd have to go under the blanket and then the blanket would come off while I was taking you over to the bathroom."

The frown fell back onto my face. I blew a few stray bangs out of my field of vision, mulling over this latest obstacle, all the while the urge to pee absolutely _fucking growing_. I _**desperately**_needed to pee. The thought hit me randomly.

"Well, why not tuck the blanket in while you're picking up my legs so that it doesn't come out, and then tucking the blanket up under my back so it doesn't flop down and you don't trip or something while taking me to the bathroom?" He narrowed his eyes, thinking about my proposition for a moment. My tolerance for my full bladder was wearing thin.

"Can we do this fast? I really, really, _really_ need to pee."

He didn't hesitate another moment. Quick as physically possible, Neji stepped over, tucked the blanket in just the way I'd told him, and lifted me up from the bed, pulling me against him. I winced as I felt the dull pain become a stab yet again as the movement disturbed the wound. A small hiss escaped me, completely out of my control. I threw my arms around him, legs automatically feeling like jell-o, despite the fact that I wasn't even walking. I carefully mentally assessed the rest of my body parts as Neji began making his slow way to the bathroom.

My head was sore, no doubt from when I fell after getting shot by the bastard that had caused all of this. My arms were still ridiculously weak and my right leg felt as if it was going to completely fall off. I felt the disarray that was my hair, as it was falling all around my face, despite the fact that the rubber bands were still, to some degree, holding it up. The bangs in front of my face were just as frayed and, I imagined, just as frizzy. The pain from my right leg was also radiating into my left leg and into my lower abdomen.

Conclusion: I felt like I was on some super twisted strong version of my period, except that the blood that had come out hadn't actually been from my crotch – it was from the spot on my leg right next to it. The thought forced my lip into a weird sort of grimace. Neji, being the observant little Hyuga he was, didn't fail to notice this; as a matter of fact, he took it as a sign of me being in more pain than I actually was and stopped.

"I'm sorry. Am I going too fast?"

I shook my head weakly against him. "No, you're doing fine. I was just thinking."

He raised an eyebrow at me, clearly asking me to expand, but I simply dropped my grimace into a reassuring smile. He furrowed his brow at me slightly before letting out a sigh, deciding to drop it. "Right, whatever you say," he muttered.

That made me grin as I said, "Damn right it's whatever I say. _I_ wear the pants in the relationship!" He re-furrowed his brow at me, this time a look of warning plastered on his face. "Watch it Cripple. I can easily throw you down the stairs and say I lost my footing and dropped you. On top of that, that's really a stupid thing for you to say considering the fact that you're not wearing any pants at all at the moment."

My mouth dropped open of its own accord, the blood rushing into my face, making sure to fill my neck and ears as well. Had he really just said that?

The smirk on his face made it clear that yes, he had just said what I'd thought he'd said and he found my reaction to what'd he'd said amusing.

"Neji if I had the strength to punch you upside the head, trust me I would."

A quiet laugh escaped him as we finally made it over to the bathroom. He stopped right in front of the door, adjusted himself underneath me, slid an arm out from under me, and opened the door before turning sideways and waddling easily into the room, both arms supporting me again, the whole process awkward and uncomfortable – both from the pain of my wound and from all the movement shifting the liquid contents of my bladder around as if I hadn't been holding it for hours.

The bathroom was relatively large and completely white, save for a single wall as deep blue as the depths of the ocean, which was utterly ironic considering the fact that it was the wall on the other side of the shower, as well as where the bathtub was located. The toilet was pushed up against the wall adjacent to the door – and boy did it look tempting. My insides felt about ready to burst just looking at it. I bit my lip lightly as Neji continued to waddle over to the toilet before abruptly freezing in place.

I blinked and looked up at his face. His usually pale cheeks were accented by a light tint of pink. I frowned and pursed my lips. "What happened?" His lips shifted in a weird duck face, moving from right to left and then back to right before he actually said anything.

"It's just that uh, how are you going to use the bathroom with your clothes on?"

It took a minute for me to discern what he _really_ meant by that – but believe me; once I understood, I blushed so hard I'm sure Hinata would've been proud of me. He cast his gaze sideways, despite the fact that I was still in his arms. I frowned, desperately trying to fight down the blush on my face and cleared my throat lightly, examining the situation as objectively as I could with my bladder as full as it was in search of a solution. A few moments passed by before I gave up – every thought turned up blank.

Thankfully, this was the time that Sakura chose to pop in, hair ruffled and face showing signs of tiredness, despite the fact that she had her hands on her hips and a pink eyebrow raised at me and Neji. I blinked and then grinned. She didn't grin back, but rather stepped over to us and placed her hand lightly on my forehead.

"Thank gangster you're awake and well."

I raised an eyebrow at that. "What the hell do you mean? Were you expecting me to not wake up?" She shrugged and responded with, "Well obviously I knew you were going to wake up I just didn't know if you were going to wake up _okay_. Even though I cleaned out your wound, it _is_ in a pretty uncomfortable spot and you could easily get an infection if you're not careful – and Tenten, you're not exactly careful."

I rolled my eyes at her words but stopped short when the motion made my head ache massively.

"Also, you and Neji might want to pay attention to what you're saying. The noise you guys were making in the hall is what woke me up but the things you guys were saying are what kept me awake."

We both gave her questioning looks. She let out a sigh and shook her head lightly before quoting our conversation.

"'Are you okay? Am I going too fast?' 'No, you're doing fine I was just thinking.'" She smirked at the expressions beginning to fall on our faces before she continued. "'_I _wear the pants in the relationship.' 'That's really a stupid thing for you to say considering the fact that you're not wearing any pants at all at the moment."

I felt the rush of blood swelling in my cheeks yet again.

"I just came to make sure you and Neji weren't doing anything questionable while you're injured as badly as you are, and while you're not doing what I _thought_ you were doing I can't say that this doesn't look questionable." Her smirk only broadened in amusement.

I blushed and buried my face in the crook of Neji's neck to hide my embarrassed face, all the way feeling my bladder fighting to not explode into six trillion pieces and either kill me or make me pee my pants (or lack thereof).

Sakura let out a quiet laugh at my reaction before she tugged lightly on some of the loose strands of my hair. "Oh relax. I know you were just trying to pee. I figured as much when Neji asked how you were going to with your clothes on. But hey, I'm here so you won't have to worry about Neji perving and peeking while you use the bathroom." She took a moment's pause before adding, "You know unless you're cool with something like that."

She only let out another quiet laugh as I threw her an "Oh fuck you, Billboard brow."

* * *

_It's finally here guys! I'm so sorry about taking FOREVER but you already know the drill: school and responsibility always suck the joy out of life._

_Anyway, I'm sorry this took so long but it's here and you read it so I hope you enjoyed it! And on the more optimistic side of the spectrum, I'm on break at the moment so I may be able to update again! Just know that I'm also working on updating my other stories as well (I mean ABC's is just like "Kiki wtf man I've been here for almost two years now.) so if you read those well you'll be getting extra helpings! I hope you all are okay and Happy Holidays darlings!_

_Thanks for reading and review please!  
_


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